Front Runners
by KiloActual
Summary: With most of the First Wave dead, missing or playing dead, the Strategic Homeland Division has ordered the activation of the Second Wave. The Front Runners are team of Second Wave Agents never planned to stay together as a team for long but after certain events in Brooklyn, the team is forced to stay together to save what remains. In-game story with personal twist and additions.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N**

 **Hello, everybody. This is a fairly short author note as this is a new story. So if you want to skip it, go ahead, you're not missing much.**

 **After seeing the pre-alpha gameplay of The Division online during E3 in 2013, I immediately took interest in the game and after playing through the beta in February, I feel in love with the game and having so many ideas pop into my head while playing and just coming to the conclusion that I had to write a story for the game.**

 **Anyways Disclaimer, TC's The Division doesn't belong to me and is property of Ubisoft and its respective developers. I own only the plot of this story and some of the characters within it. Any characters names are by coincidence useless meant to be a reference.**

 _Dumbo, Brooklyn_

An eerie silence hung over the streets of Brooklyn. While silence was a not uncommon in Brooklyn, this kind of silence was an unnatural silence. The only thing to break the silence that consumed the district was the occasion dog barking or a car alarm set off by one of the residence trying to look for food or supplies. However, even these sounds died down and once again the silence took over. Few people went out anymore. Most people were too scared to leave their homes in fear of catching the Dollar Flu or being killed by looters for their already dwindling supplies. The JTF in the area did their best to maintain law and order in the streets but it was an uphill battle. The JTF's numbers were dropping everyday, killed by the looters and criminals or leaving the JTF to go back home to keep their families safe or fearing for their lives as it seemed that anyone wearing a JTF vest, military fatigues, or a police uniform was targeted and killed.

The silence was finally broken when gunshots erupted from an garage and a man came storming out. The man had an glowing orange watch and was armed with a Tactical Vector .45 ACP and a First Wave PF45 in a holster attached to his right leg as well as plenty of other gear attached to his other leg and backpack and another glowing orange circle on a device that had an antenna attached to it on his shoulder, immediately identifying him as a Division Agent. Behind him, a handful of people all with hoods pulled up to conceal their identities and most armed with handguns while the one was leading the charge was only armed with a baseball bat. Sliding over the hood of a car, the Division Agent quickly took cover on the other side of the car. With the press of a button on his watch, an orange circle, that only he could see due to the specialized contact lens he was wearing, expand from the uplink device on his bag strap and scan the surrounding. The scan highlighted the men chasing him in red and once it hit its maximum range notified the man that there were 5 threats with a small counter. Popping out cover for a moment, the Agent being chased aimed his submachine gun at the man with a baseball bat and fired a burst into the man. The bullets ripped through the man's jacket and just as easily ripped through the man's chest, piercing through his lungs and heart. The other men quickly scrambled for cover after seeing one of their allies killed. As one them peeked his head out of cover, he received a pistol round to the head, killing him instantly. The others were immediately disheartened by this a one even took to fleeing, fearing for his life. The two that stayed did their best to keep their cool even with the corpses of two of their allies nearby. The Agent took the moment of inactivity to work his way around the two men and now had taken up a flanking position on the men. Taking a deep breath, the Agent pop out of his cover and put a few rounds into both men in nonlethal spots of their body with his sidearm. The men both fell to the floor in pain, one even dropping his firearm. The other tried to level his sidearm to fire at the Agent but the quickly kicked the pistol from the man's grasp. Kicking the other pistol away form the other man, who was still writhing in pain, he quickly subdued both men with zip ties. Once they were subdued, the Agent then began to patch up wounds that, if not treated properly, would prove to be fatal with what little medical supplies he had to the best of his abilities. While the action confused the two attackers, they didn't resist the medical treatment. Once done, the Agent took a step back to examine both men. Walking up behind the one with a backpack, he started going through the bag, much to the man's protest and squirming. As he went through the contents of the bag, he removed objects that he needed or could be used to pose a threat to anyone else. In the end, the Agents confiscated two grenades, a tear gas and a flashbang, one of the bottles of water, a can of soda, and one of the many bags of chips.

"Man, first you shot us, then you patch us up, and now you robbing us? What the hell wrong with you?" the man with the backpack said as the Agent zipped up his bag. The Agent just walked up in front of the two men and popped open the can of soda and took a sip from it.

"If you recall, you guys shot at me first. And I patched you up because I need information." The Agent said before taking another drink from the can of soda. "Gods, I haven't had soda in awhile.

"And what if we don't feel all that cooperative and not give you the information you want?" the man said back.

"Then I can just take the rest of your supplies and leave you tied up here on the floor. Hopefully a JTF patrol find you before the snow storm hits later."

The two men stayed silent as the threat of being left out in the snow with no supplies sank in. "And if we do help?" the other man asked.

"Then I keep your guns, ammo, grenades, the other things I took and you guys get to walk away with what supplies you have left and go home." The Agent replied. "Take your pick."

The two men look at each other in silence before answering. "What do you want to know?"

"Smart choice." The Agent took a map out of Brooklyn out of his pocket. "Your gang stole some JTF supplies not long ago. I want you to tell me where you stashed them and mark it on this map." The two men again looked at each other before telling the Agent the location of the supplies they stole and the other marked it on the map with a Sharpie the Agent put in his mouth. "Good. Now last question, where's the hideout your gang is operating from?" This time the men were a little more hesitant to give him the information he wanted but remembering the penalty for not cooperating, they figured it was better to just give up the location of hideout.

"It's over near the border of the district. We have stronghold there for ambushing JTF patrols and supplies. Its not far from the pier." One man said while once again the other marked it on the map to the best of his ability.

"Any plans I should be aware of?"

"There's a JTF supply drop coming in by boat. We were planning on raiding the shipment. That's all we know, we swear." One of the men said.

"Alright. Thanks for the help." The Agent said as he put away the map and walked up behind the two men and drew a knife. Cutting the zip ties on them, the Agent put the knife away and drew his sidearm. "There you go, you're free to go. A bit of advice though, if I see you there at the stronghold or if your lying to me and the locations you gave me are empty, I'm going to hunt you down and feed you to the wild dogs. Got that, Daniel and Alan?" Both men nodded furiously "Good. Now run along. If you cause anymore problems, I'll have you killed." Both men ran as fast as they could to get away from the Agent.

"Goddamn Rioters." The Agent muttered to himself and finished off the can of soda. As he finished the contents of the can, his ear piece beeped as an incoming signal came in.

"Courier, this is Division Commander Louis Chang. Report."

"Copy, Commander. I was able secure an weapon stash, subdued a few Rioters and secured some intel the JTF would be very interesting in."

"What did you get?"

"I was able to locate the supplies that the Rioters stole. I have it marked on a map and I plan on running it to the JTF safe house under the Manhattan Bridge. I also have the location of the gang's stronghold. I intend to raid it and take it out."

"Copy that. I suggest that you hang back on that raid. There are two Agents en route to the safe house. I want you to link up with them and form a squad. Your squad's designation is Omega-7. Good work out there, agent. Keep it up. Command out." With that the radio line shut off. Courier, the codename he was given in the SHD database, just sighed and opened the map on his watch and watched as a 3D holographic map of Brooklyn appear in the around him. Marking the JTF safe house, the map disappeared as he blinked and looked away and the Agent made his way to the safe house after collecting the weapons from the dead. The jog to the JTF safe house was a quick one and after a few minutes, Courier was at the entrance to the safe house. Walking up to the doorway, he found it blocked by the couch. Opening a radio channel, Courier contacted the Division Commander.

"Commander, this is Courier. I'm outside the safe house. Who am I looking for?"

"Courier, the agents you're looking for aren't at the safe house yet. Head up and wait for them inside. Don't forget to deliver the intel you collected to the JTF dispatcher inside. I'll have another agent secure the supplies while you hit the Rioter Stronghold.

"Deliveries are what I do, Commander. Courier out." Courier closed the radio channel and vaulted over the couch blocking the door. Quickly making his way up the stairs, Courier opened the door to the safe house and walked in. As he walked in, all eyes turned to him, from civilian to JTF, making him feel rather uncomfortable. One of the JTF members noticed his watched and approached him.

"Are you the courier? The Division Commander said that an agent that was a courier would be stopping by and dropping off some intel about the supplies that were stole." the JTF member asked.

"Actually Courier is my designation in the database and yeah I got something for you. Who's in charge?"

"Right this way, sir." The JTF officer directed Courier to one of the rooms. Inside the room was a JTF officer looking over a map. The officers glanced up from the map and noticed the agent.

"You must be the agent we were told about. A pleasure to meet you, sir." The officer extended his hand which Courier shook. "Heard you got some information for us."

"Yeah. I was able to get some Rioters to give up the location of the supplies that were stolen as well as the their stronghold. I'm going after the stronghold but there's going to be some other agents showing up to handle the secure the stolen supplies. Two of those Agents are assigned to my team. I'm not sure how many other Agents are showing up."

"Are you sure you want to attack a fortified position with only three people? I can spare a JTF squad to give you back up."

"Thanks but we should be able to handle it. Do have anywhere I can restock on supplies before I head out there?" Courier asked

"Yeah there's a supply boxes over on the other side of the room. You can fill up on ammo over there." The officer answered.

"Thanks." With that Courier walked out of the room and into the main room. Walking over to the side of the which had most of the supplies, Courier filled up on ammo for his sidearm and his Vector. Once he was done, he walked over to the man who acted as the quartermaster for the JTF assigned there. Handing him the weapons, he confiscated from the Rioters, the quartermaster gratefully accepted them. In turn and being notified of the Agent's mission, handed him an M4 Assault Rifle. Thanking the officer, Courier quickly made his way back to the supply boxes, stocked up on ammo and walked out of the safe house. As he closed the door behind him, he heard someone walking up the stairs behind him. Turning to look at them, he came face to face with a young Asian woman with black short black hair that was pushed back. She was a few inches shorter then Courier, having to look up at him slightly. The one thing that caught his attention the most wasn't any of her features but it was the same watch with the glowing orange circle and the same uplink device on the strap of her single sling backpack which, like their watches, had the same glowing orange circle. Both Agents looked surprised to see each other and were silent for a few moments as they stared at each other. Finally they both broke the silence as they both spoke at the same time.

"Faye." "Colin."

 **A/N**

 **That's it for the first chapter. The story will follow the missions in the games at certain times while also mixing in some of my own ideas as well as dialogue from the agents instead of having them stay silent like they do in cutscenes and conversations over the radio during the missions. It should be fun for me to write and hopefully for you guys to read.**

 **Anyways, that does it for this chapter. Thanks for giving this a read. Any feedback you guys have, corrections on equipment and the such, or just general comments you have, please review or comment or even PM me if that's more your thing. Thanks again and have a great day.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N**

 **Hello everybody. To anybody who actually read this story, thank you. I know there isn't a very big Division community on this website but every read counts. For what its worth, I'm going to keep writing anyways, even if no one is reading. Anyways, on to the disclaimer.**

 **Disclaimer: TC's The Division does not belong to me. It belongs to Ubisoft and its respective developers. I only own some elements of the plot and some of the characters.**

 **Now on to the story.**

 _JTF safe house_

The two Division Agents just stared at each other for a few moments, the initial disbelief still wearing off. However, Courier, or Colin as was his actual name, shifted his attention to focus on Faye instead of her equipment. It's been awhile since he had has seen her and he was more than happy to see that she was okay. While she had changed since he had last seen her, he could still easily recognize her. The two had met some time back and had occasional run in with each other since, some on purpose, others by accident. Either way, every encounter always ended up with them smiling. Realizing that he might have been staring a bit, Colin decided to say the first thing on his mind.

"Goddamn am I glad to see that you're okay." Colin said with a smile. "I'll be good to work with a familiar face." He gestured toward their watches. "Got time to catch up for a bit? I'm waiting for two Agents to show up to form a squad." Faye thought about it for a moment before agreeing.

"Yeah, I have a few." Faye said. Colin gestured to move to the end of the hall to get out of the doorway. "I'm here to coordinate with the JTF and assist tasking Agents and JTF teams for now until the Commander orders otherwise."

"Sounds good. So how have you been, Faye?"

"I've been okay. Hate seeing New York like this. I can't wait to get out there and do my part to help fix the city."

"I know what you mean. Its hard to see the city you were born and raised in tear itself apart." Colin sighed. Turning his attention back to Faye, he smiled again. "So fill me in on what I've been going on since I left." Faye looked back up to him and couldn't help but smile back.

"Alright but you have to do the same. Last time I checked, you were still in the Army. Special forces, if I recall. What was your unit agent?"

"D Company, 1st Battalion, 5th SFG, well before we were renamed the Group for Specialized Tactics. And technically I never left. I was transferred to the SHD because they needed experienced Agents with training in high tech equipment. I happen to fit the bill." Colin answered and pointed to a patch his arm which had a skull on it.

"Either way, it's good to see that you're okay." Faye said with a chuckle. "So shall we start?" Faye looked at Colin, who smiled in response.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

While the two Agents caught up with one another, a few blocks away were two Agents that had run into each other awhile back on the way to the JTF safe house under the Manhattan Bridge. The two had both ordered to meet up with another Agent with the callsign Courier. Once finding out that both been ordered to do the same thing, they quickly agreed that they would travel together until ordered otherwise. With the Agents so close to safe house, they couldn't wait for a moment of rest and with no obvious threat in sight, one of them decided it would best if they got know each other, especially if they were going to be in a team with one another.

"Yo Recker." One of the Agents said.

"Yo Scorch." The other replied.

"Since we're going to be on the same team until further notice, might as start getting to know each other. You know, other than our callsign."

"Sounds reasonable enough. I guess I'll start. My name is Alex Lee. What about you?" Recker, or Alex said.

"My name is Mateo Alejandros. " Scorch, or Mateo said. Going with the first question that popped into his head, he said. "I'm from where North Carolina, you?"

"Brooklyn. What did you do before the virus hit?"

"Computer engineer. You?"

"Ex-NYPD and some competitive eating on the side." Before they could ask any more questions, Scorch's ear piece beeped, notifying them of an incoming communication.

"Scorch, its Chang, how far out are you from the safe house?" the Northeast Section Division Commander's voice came over the radio.

"About a 150m out, command. I've linked up with Recker and we're heading to the safe house together."

"Copy, Agent. Good job linking up with your squad mate. Courier is waiting for at the safe house. Your squad has already been assigned it first mission. Report to him for mission details. Command out." The radio line cut.

"Alright. Looks like we've already got our first assignment. We better get a move on." Mateo said to his partner.

"Did he mention what it was?" asked Alex checking the ammo on his MP5. Mateo did the same with his MP7. Alex took a moment to put a fresh magazine into his weapon to replace the half full one he had in the weapon. Mateo just slid the magazine back in as he had no rounds missing from it.

"No. He said that Courier has the mission details. We gotta report to him."

"Well then let's get a move on." Alex said as he started jogging with Mateo not far behind him. The two Agents soon arrived at the water front and at edge of a small park with the JTF safe house on the other side. Looking out over the river to the island of Manhattan, they could see smoke rising into the blue sky from the once great city. If they listened hard enough, they were sure they were able to hear the very faint sound of gunfire from firefights near the river. The river was quiet, with the occasion patrol boat from the Navy patrolling the waters to make sure no one tried to flee the island of Manhattan by boat. Turning their attention back to the task at hand, the two walked through the park, running into two JTF officers who were discussing their future together with everything going to hell as well as the handful of civilian looking around for supplies to scavenge or to talk to each with a sense of relative safety being in close proximity to a JTF safe house. Walking quickly through the park, they arrived a door way that was blocked by the couch. Vaulting over the couch, Mateo made his way up the stairs while Alex contacted the Division Commander. As Mateo reached the top of the stairs and walked over to the door, he heard what sounded like people talking to each other from down the hall in an almost whisper.

"This is a bad idea." one of the voices. The voice was definitely female.

"The worse." A male voice replied which got him a small laugh and that's where Mateo stopped listening as he heard Alex come up the stairs.

"Hey Mateo, Command said that Courier is waiting inside. You ready to greet our new squad leader?" Alex asked.

"Yeah. Let's go." Mateo said opening the door. As they walked in, all eyes turned to them but unlike before they quickly turned away. A JTF officer walked to them to greet them.

"Sirs, how can I help you?" the officer asked.

"We're here looking for Courier. We were told he was here. Have you seen him?" Mateo asked.

"Uhhh, no sir. Last time I saw him was a few minutes ago. He stepped out. We'll contact him and let him know you're- oh sir, you're back." Behind Alex and Mateo was Colin and Faye.

"Thanks for greeting them, officer. You're dismissed." The JTF officer saluted and walked off to talk to the JTF dispatcher. "Sorry I wasn't here to greet you myself. I was talking to Agent Lau here. I'm Courier. Did command brief you on the op?"

"Recker and that's Scorch. And no, He told us you have the mission detail." Alex said.

"Got it. Alright, I'll inform you two on the way. Gather up what supplies and ammo and do what you have to do. Meet me outside in five." Colin said. Mateo and Alex nodded and walked off to do some other task. Colin turned back to Faye and sighed. He was not ready to be in command again. Last time he was in charge of a team was back when he was still special forces and their Lead was knocked out when the op went bad. While he was not only able to extract his wounded squad leader but also complete the mission with no further casualties with just himself and two others, Colin preferred to be a regular rifleman or engineer and was glad when one of the Agents in his cell wanted the role, even though he was still put through leadership training. The only times he would accept the role of team leader was when the situation demanded it.

"Everything okay, Colin?" Faye asked with some concern, snapping Colin out of his train of though.

"Hmm? Yeah, I'm just thinking about the last time I was a squad leader. Not a role I'm fond of being."

"How bad was your first command?"

"Its fine. Nothing too serious. Just our squad leader was knocked out when our op went sideways. I was forced to take charge. So we extracted our wounded and we completed our mission." Colin gave a brief overview of the mission, making sure not to go into detail about anything as the missions his unit took part in were highly classified.

"Alright. Well if anything else is bothering you or you need to talk to someone, contact me, okay?" Faye said.

"Yes ma'am." Colin said with a smile. Looking at his watch, he still had a few minutes before he had to meet up with his team outside so he and Faye walked further into the apartment, closing the door behind them. Pressing a few things on his watch and navigating the HUD that had appeared before his eyes through his integrated augmented reality contact lenses, he opened an encrypted radio frequency between him and Faye.

"There. Now if we need to get in touch with each other, we have our own frequency." Colin said over the radio even though she only a few feet away which earned him a chuckle from the female Agent. Faye was about to reply but she saw Alex exit the room with the safe house commanding officer and Mateo walk over to him and hand him the ammo he needed. Colin seemed to notice too and sighed. "Guess time is up." He looked down and ran his hand through his hair.

"Guess so. Better get a move on. We all have jobs to do. Oh and Colin." Faye said causing Colin to look up. "I'll keep in touch." This earned a smile from Colin. "Now move Agent."

"I'm going. I'm going." Colin said as he was about to start walking but stopped. "Hey Faye, can you promise me something?"

"Depends on what it is?"

"Promise me that you'll keep yourself safe. Too many people I know and care about have died since the Dollar Flu hit. I don't how long I'll be able to keep going if I lost you too, especially since I just found out that you were still alive." Colin said except he didn't sound like his usual self. He sounded sad and tired and lacking hope.

"Alright but only if you promise me the same thing." Faye said with a smile, hoping to cheer up her fellow Agent. Colin gave her a small smile in return and nodded.

"Promise." Giving Faye a quick hug, which surprised her, he said. "Stay safe out there, Miss Lau." With that, Colin left. Faye just shook her head laughing and entered the room with the JTF safe room commanding officer to assist with the JTF and Division Agent deployment.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The walk to the Rioter stronghold was a quiet one for the Colin. After finding out some basic information of the temporary troops under his command and giving them the information he had on the mission, Colin stayed quiet for the rest of the walk and let the other two talk to each other as they seem to know each other better. From what Colin was able to gather, the three of them all came from different cells, with the rest of their cells being spread out and were planning on regrouping with each other in Manhattan. He had also found out that the other two had run into each other before meeting up with him, which explained why they knew each other. Colin didn't give them too much information about himself, figuring that he wouldn't be with them very long.

The walk to the location given to him by the captured Rioters took around 10 minutes and was pleased to see that the intel was good. Taking up a position on top of a scaffolding across the street, the three Agents had an overwatch position that overlooked the stronghold. From what they could see, there was 4 Rioters walking about, 2 regular Rioters armed with handguns, 1 Daredevil armed with a submachine gun and had a backpack that Colin assumed had grenades in it, and the last Rioter was a Bruiser wielding a baseball bat.

"So what's the play?" Mateo asked.

"I say we take them. There's like, what, 4 of them? I say we rush in, take them by surprise, and wipe them out." Alex said and got ready to move.

"Patience. There's something we're not seeing. There's no way there's only 4 people in this place." Colin said grabbing Alex and holding him back. Pressing his watch, Colin sent out a pulse to scan the area. The ring of the pulse scan made it all the way into the building and highlighted all hostile scanned. In the corner of his vision, the number of targets appeared, 15 hostiles. As the highlighted Rioters appeared in the HUDs of the other Agents, they fell silent. The thing that broke the silence was when Mateo muttered to himself.

"Well shit."

"We'll be fine." Colin said checking the ammo on his M4 Assault Rifle. "Alright, I got a plan. First, you two take cover behind those barriers and cars to flank them as I draw them out." Looking through the ACOG scope he had attached while walking to make sure it was attached straight, Colin looked for all way the Rioters could exit the building. The main ways they could exit from was the main garage doors and the front door. _'I've dealt with worse with less.'_ Colin thought to himself with a sigh and looked at Mateo who was crouched next to him. _'Then again, I was trained to handle these kind of situations or worse and most of the time had a team that I had trained with.'_ Colin's train of thought was interrupted when Mateo spoke.

"Uhhh, Courier, what's Recker doing?" This caught Colin's attention and he quickly turned around to see that Alex was missing. Looking to where Mateo pointed, he saw Alex on the street below and moving along a sedan that the Rioters had moved into the middle of street to stop any JTF or CERA vehicles from passing.

"Shit." Tapping his ear piece, he opened a the squad radio channel. "Recker, what the fuck are you doing?"

Alex's voice came back quietly. "You said we need to flank them and draw them out. That's what I'm doing. Get ready I'm engaging."

"Negative, do not engage, I repeat, do not-" Colin was cut off by the sound of Alex's MP5 firing a burst into the Daredevil's backpack which set off the grenades in the backpack and causing an explosion. "Son of a bitch. Scorch." Colin turned around to see him start moving. "Where the hell are you going?"

"Sorry, sir, but someone has to get out there and watch his back." With that Mateo got up and ran down the stairs and took cover behind a jersey barrier before popping up and putting a few rounds into the Bruiser as he was rushing Alex's position.

"Goddammit. Looks like we're improvising." Colin swore under his breath, cocking his rifle, and the switching it semi-auto. Popping his head out cover, he focused on the doorway where the highlighted Rioters inside were heading just before the pulse scan wore off. _'Gods, I would kill for a sensor grenade right now.'_ Colin thought as he watched the door burst open. Squeezing the trigger, the first man out of the door received a bullet straight to the forehead. The man behind stood in shock for a moment too long and caught the next bullet to the heart. The rest of the men at the door, kept trying to push out from the same door and met fates similar to the first two as Colin continued to shoot. _'These guys are fucking idiots. How did they manage to cause the JTF so many problems?'_

"Hostiles down, pushing." Alex said as he took cover at a jersey barrier at the base of the fence and moving along it to the open gate. Mateo did the same thing with on the other side of the gate.

"Watch it, we have hostiles coming out from garages." Colin said as the garage doors opened and 9 men rushed out. A burst from Alex's MP5 dropped a Bruiser that thought he could reach them while Mateo blind fired his clip from the edge of his cover, gaining one of his to hit a man dead center and a few others to graze a few Rioters. "Prioritize your targets. I'll handle Bruisers that try to rush you, focus on taking out the ones with the backpacks, they have grenades in- Shit." Colin swore as he driven back into cover by a Lurker firing off his SMG-9 magazine in his direction, lucky all the shoots went wild and missed the plywood he was hiding behind. Peeking over, he saw the Lurker providing cover fire for two Bruiser that started rushing with golf clubs. Popping out of cover, Colin switched the weapon back into full auto and fired a burst at each of them. The rounds tore through the Bruisers' chests, killing them both. Before the Lurker could shifted their attention his attention, Mateo lobed a grenade over at the man and the resulting explosion killing him while wounding another. The man limbed out of his cover toward the building and before anyone could line up a shot, a man who was slightly taller than the others walked out with plenty of body armor, large backpack, and an RPK light machine gun and began spraying bullets down range driving both Mateo and Alex back to cover and causing Colin to jump back toward the wall as the light machine gun rounds shredded the plywood he was talking cover behind as the gunner turned his attention toward him. Alex put down his MP5 and drew his old M1911 pistol and took a deep breath. As the machine gunner burned through the rest of his magazine, the wounded Lurker leaned out of his cover in the doorway to provide cover fire only to see the Alex stand up and fire his 1911 sidearm twice, the first bullet impacting the machine gunner's skull and the second hitting the wounded Lurker in the throat.

"Clear." Alex yelled. Colin climbed down from the scaffolding to regroup with the others.

"I hate both of you. Anyone injured?" Colin asked.

"Couple of scraps and a graze or two but nothing serious." Alex said rotating his shoulder.

"I'm good here." Mateo said

"Alright. The three of us are talking about what just happened here but for now I need to radio the JTF." The other two nodded figuring it would happen when they didn't wait for orders from their squad leader. "Lieutenant, this is Courier. Stronghold is secure."

"Copy that, Courier. We're sending over a team to watch over the site and secure it until we can proper extract the supplies on site. Thanks a lot, agents. You just removed a massive thorn in our side. Oh and Courier, Agent Lau informed us to tell you to contact her once you finished the mission before she left. Something about heading into the city. Thanks again, agents. Dispatch out." With that the radio cut out. Contacting Agent Lau, Colin found that the Division commander was also patch in.

"Agent Washington, perfect timing. I just gave Agent Lau the location where she and Agent Walker were being pick up from to head into the city. Agent Lau, you are dismissed." The Division Commander said over the radio.

"Copy that. Lau out." With that Faye dropped out of the transmission.

"Agent Washington, your team is being sent into the Manhattan via zodiac boat. Link up with the JTF at this location. The rest of the second wave will be dropped off at Camp Hudson link up with us there. Once there, your teams can disband and return to your cells." Colin opened his map and saw an objective marker appear on the water front.

"Confirmed. Location received. Moving to rendezvous with JTF. Courier out." Colin closed the radio channel and informed the rest of his team of their current destination and objective. As they walked toward the docks, Colin decided to check in with Faye to see what she wanted earlier. Opening up a channel on their frequency, Colin hailed her radio. The line was static for a few second before Faye's voice came over the radio. After a quick conversation about their missions, they both agreed to talk later on the way over to let each other focus on their separate objectives. After a few minutes of walking on silence, Mateo asked the question both him and Alex were wondering.

"Hey, Courier, how do you know Agent Lau? You two seem pretty close." Mateo asked.

"I'm not saying anything."

"Come on, man. You can tell us. How'd you two meet?" Alex chimed in.

"Yeah, no, after the shit you two pulled during the raid, I'm not telling you two shit." Colin said. "If you want to know, go ask Agent Lau."

"No thanks, she seems intimidating." This got a chuckle from Colin.

"Yeah, she can be when see wants to." The other two Agents quieted down and talked to each other as Colin listened. From what he could hear, they were making guesses on how he knew Faye. After around couple more minutes of walking, they arrived at the river. At the end of the dock was a Zodiac inflatable raft and a team of National Guardsmen and women standing by some supplies. As they walked down the dock, the JTF team saluted before returned to their tasks. The driver of the inflatable craft walked up to them.

"Are you guys from Omega-7?"

"Yeah, we were told to link up with you guys to get over to Manhattan."

"Yessir. Commander Chang called and said to wait for you and your team and one other Agent. Once he's here, we'll cast off and make our way to Hudson Yard."

"Who are we waiting for?"

"Someone with the callsign Cobra. He should be here soon." Colin nodded and Omega-7 took a moment to rest. After a few minutes, someone came walking down the dock. The person was a Caucasian male with short military length brown hair. In his hand was ACR Assault Rifle and strapped on his bag was a M1014 Shotgun as well as a pistol that none of them could identify at the moment. The main thing that caught Colin's attention as the Agent got closer was one of the patches on the Agent's arm above the Division emblem that looked near identical to the one Colin had above his Division emblem. The patch was skull emblem and it was unique to his unit back in Army. Along with that, there was a second patch that Colin wasn't familiar with. It was a shield that had a talons ready to strike with five stars above it. With the Agent close enough to make out the words on the patch, Colin was able to read the words 'Fourth Echelon' in the shield. Taking a moment to think back to his fellow special forces members, Colin recognized the man as he stopped right in front of him.

"Washington." The man said staring directly at Colin with a smirk.

"Horton." Colin replied as he lifted his arm and the two bumped forearms.

"So one of Felix's pups left the den. Who's your team?"

"This is Omega-7. The one on the left is Alex Lee, callsign Recker, and that's Mateo Alejandros, callsign Scorch. We're a temporary team until we link up with the others in Manhattan then we disband and join our cell. Omega-7, this is Colonel Ryan Horton, former Delta Force and was part of my special forces unit until he signed on with Fourth Echelon. Now he's an Agent, just like us." Colin said as he remembered his former colleague and the reasons he left the GST.

"Anyways, we catch up more in the city while we wait. For now, let's get to the city." Horton said. The member of Omega-7 nodded and the four agents piled into the inflatable craft. As the boat started up and began moving, Alex tapped Colin on the shoulder and pointed at his ear. As Colin listened in, he heard the sound of propeller blades. Notifying Ryan, the Agents did their best to locate the source of the sound until they all noticed the source at once. They watch as an Osprey VTOL dropship pass by and head a clearing by the water front which they assumed was a helipad. As the dropship began it's descent and it's engines rotated to it vertical position, Colin noticed something a streak of white out of the corner of his eye and turned to watch it as it came from Manhattan. As the Osprey touched down, Colin realized that whatever was causing that streak had shifted it's flight toward the Osprey and was approaching fast. The realization suddenly hit him and his hand went straight to his radio as quick as his body would allow him.

"Commander, get everyone off that bird, you have-" Colin never finished his sentence as the missile impacted the Osprey causing the VTOL to explode into a massive ball of fire. The shockwave was felt in the boat as waves picked up and began rocking the boat, causing the JTF officer steering it to slow down and eventually stop the raft all together. Once the water settled, everyone turned to face the wreckage. Black smoke rose into the sky and the glow of the flames could easily be seen through the black smoke. Everyone watched in silence, knowing full well that bird was filled with Second-Wave Agents, including their cells. They all sat down in shock. To all but one of them, reality began sinking. They were all that was left. To their knowledge, the four of them are the Second Wave. Colin, on the other hand, just sat there in belief. While he'd no doubt blame himself for not noticing sooner and warning them, his entire focus was on the one thing, one person. With no paying attention as they watched as few helicopters rush to the scene, no one caught Colin whisper to himself. "Faye?" He was unsure how long he was sitting there but someone seemed to notice him sitting there staring off in the distance and shook his shoulder.

"Hey, Colin, you alright, man?" This snapped Colin back into reality. Looking at the wreckage, he noticed that they were a lot further from it than they were before and that one of the helicopters were trying to land. Trying his best to shake the thoughts that had him so distracted out of his head, Colin looked at person shaking him, Ryan.

"Colin, I need you to focus, man. I don't know how you're team or how they operate. Hell, I barely have a clue on what to do next. The Commander Chang had the information and the plan. I need you with me so we can start figuring this out." Ryan said over the motor engine. Colin could hear how heavily the toll all of the deaths were having on him. They had lost the majority of the Second Wave, including each of their individual cells, when the Osprey was taken out and with Ryan being the highest ranking Division Agent in New York to his knowledge, he just drafted to the role of acting-commander.

"Yeah, I'm good now, thanks." Colin responded.

"Good. We need to regroup and come up with a plan. I'm open to suggestions." Ryan said turning his attention to everyone.

"Camp Hudson, you can regroup there." The JTF officer on board said. "Its run by the JTF. You can resupply there and get more information on the situation in the city."

"Commander Chang also said that Camp Hudson was where our rally point was at." Colin said while thinking. "There might be other Agents from the Second Wave that were in the city initially that rallied there. If we head directly there, we might be able to catch them before they bail."

"Alright, sounds like our best bet at the moment. Colin, you have point. I know you're a resident New Yorker and I trust that you can get us there as quick as possible." Ryan said as the Zodiac slowed as it approached and stopped at the drop off point. "We have our mission, people. Let's get to work."

 **A/N**

 **Alright, that's all for today. Thank you for reading this story. This has been a long chapter, at least by my normal standards. Its was mostly introducing characters, start developing relationships between characters, more importantly, getting the Omega-7 into Manhattan as soon as possible, thus why this was such a long chapter. But on a side note, do you guys want longer or shorter chapters? I'm curious to know what you prefer.**

 **Also, this chapter was very Colin-centric. This wouldn't always be the case now that other characters have been introduced and other will be introduced later on. I'd also like to make note that most of the characters in this are based off of either people I know or information people have given me for a character. Characters like, Alex and Mateo, are based off of my friends I played the game with and the way they handle engagements. (one would rush in with the other chasing after to provide back up while I hang back and plan.) So I have to think like them but add some kind of training when writing their characters.**

 **Anyways, what did you think of this chapter? Like it? Hate it? Somewhere in between? Comment, Review, or PM if that's more your style. Thanks again and have a great day.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N**

 **Hello everybody. I'm not sure how many other people caught the little references to other Tom Clancy games in last chapter so this is a just a heads up for those that didn't. I know the Division doesn't take place in the same universe as the other Tom Clancy titles but that just means I can change up some information and dates from the other games so it can match up better in the Division universe. Now time for the disclaimer.**

 **Disclaimer: Tom Clancy's the Division belongs to Ubisoft and its respective developers. I own the plot of this story and some of the characters. Any names that are similar or the same are completely coincidental.**

 **EDIT: Oh my gods, I am so sorry. I ended up deleting the chapter because while I was reading through this chapter after I posted it, I found so many mistakes that I was just baffled that I let that many mistakes pass me the first time. In my defense, I was at school when I posted this chapter and my brain was fried from the day but that's not an excuse. I apologize to anyone who had to read the chapter before this edit. I swear I write better than that. So apologizes to everyone.**

 **Now onto the story.**

 _Manhattan, New York_

As Omega-7 continued through the streets of New York following Colin, they passed by sights that would have made most people sick. On the streets and on the sidewalks were dead civilians and JTF; the team stopping every at every JTF body to make sure that their dog tags or some form of identification was collected to note their passing. The thing that made even them sick was the fact that some of the bodies were burned or still burning. Mateo and Alex looked sick as they walked while Ryan just avoided looking at it. Colin, on the other hand, stopped by one of the dead to examine the body. Alex was no stranger to dead bodies as during his time part of the NYPD hardened him to sight of them but corpses burned in the middle of the street was a gruesome scene he was not ready for. Mateo wanted nothing to do with what was going on and kept his eyes forward the entire time to keep from throwing up. They had all read the outcome of Operation Dark Winter performed in 2001. They knew what they were walking into but they never expected to find burning corpses in the streets.

"So what's the verdict?" he heard Ryan say to Colin.

"Not good. The corpse is fresh and there are still embers still dying. Also from the way this person died, I'd say they were running before being shot and then burned alive." Colin said. "We should keep moving. Whoever did this could still be close by."

"Agreed. Lead the way." Ryan said. Colin nodded and walked hopped over a fence. The rest followed but unlike before, they were all much more alert then before.

With the edge of the district another 50m out, the members of Omega-7 were on edge as they hadn't run into anyone yet, anyone alive that is. No JTF, no Rioters, no civilians, nothing, not even wildlife. Colin held up a fist and everyone halted.

"What's wrong?" Alex asked raising his MP5 to survey the alleyway they were walking through.

"Does anyone else hear that?" Colin asked taking a knee and flicked off the safety on his M4. Taking a moment to listen, Ryan responded.

"Yeah I hear it too." He said as he flick off the safety on his ACR.

"I don't hear anything." Mateo said.

"Exactly." Colin said

"Safeties off, people. We're not alone." Ryan said before tapping Colin on the shoulder. Colin nodded before getting up and moved quickly and quietly to the turn in the alley. "What do we got?"

"Contacts, three unknowns. One with a makeshift shield and a fire ax, another with white hazmat suit and an SMG, looks like an MP7, and the last one looks like a sanitation worker with a backpack and a shotgun. Your call, sir." Colin whispered through the radio

"I don't trust them. Any way around them?" Ryan asked.

"We could backtrack down the street and take the street but it'll take us a few more minutes to go around."

"Not an option. Find out if they're hostile or not and drop them if they are."

"Copy." Colin whispered. "Excuse me, sirs, but ca-" Colin was interrupted by two of them shooting at him. Colin just cursed under his breath and put out a fragmentation grenade and pulled the pin. Counting to three, he tossed it around the corner. After that, all they hear was a quick shout and an explosion. Taking another peek, Colin called out. "Clear." The rest of the team moved up and regroup with him. As they turned the corner, a large man in a bulky hazmat turned the corner with what looked like multiple propane tanks strapped to him. The weapon he was carrying looked self made and it was dripping some kind of burning liquid that let off steam as it hit the cold floor, from the steaming barrel. Omega-7 had a stare down with the larger man until Agent Washington broke the silence.

"What the fuck is with this guy?" Agent Washington said looking at Mateo and nodding his head toward the man standing in their way. As he looked back the man, the man unleashed a stream of fire at the Agents. "Oh that's hot!" The Agents dived to the side to avoid the flames. Alex found himself on the behind a dumpster against the wall while the other three were taking cover behind the wall they had walked around. As the man approached, Colin blind fired an entire magazine from his Vector. While this halted the advance, the man had on enough armor and layers that all it did was stagger him. However, it wasn't Colin's intention to kill the man. As the man held his arm up to protect his face and staggered back from the .45mm rounds hitting him, Alex was able to run across the open alleyway to the rest of the team.

"Back, back, back, back!" Colin shouted as the flamethrower wielding man slowly walked forward while spray fire toward their position and Alex's old position. As they pulled back, Colin swapped to his M4 and slid into a prone position, aiming the direction they had come from. The rest of them, upon seeing this, split off and took cover behind various objects.

"I hope there's a plan to this." Alex said aiming down the alley.

"There is but if I say anything, you probably ignore it." Colin said.

"Haha, very funny but seriously there is a plan, right?" This time there was no answer and Alex swore under his breath and reached into his bag to grab something. As it got even closer, Colin sent out a pulse and Alex placed a device on the dumpster in front of him which open up and showed itself as a sentry turret. As pulse passed over the to location they had run from, they surprised to see not one hostile highlighted but three, two of which were hanging back behind the larger one. Lucky, the new contacts were smaller then the first one. Finally, the bulkier one of the three came into view and in a moment of poor judgment, exposed his left side to the squad of Agents as he investigated the spot he saw Alex dive to only to find it empty. In that moment, Colin lined up his shot and fired. The bullets hit their mark and the propane tank dangling on the man's left side had a whole punched into it with the fire spewing out of it. While the larger attacker seem to have not noticed it and turned to face them, the two smaller contacts seem to have noticed and fled to seek cover. This cause the larger man to turn to yell at his comrades, exposing another propane tank. Mateo caught on and using his sidearm, fired at the second propane tank. The results were the same as the first as both propane tanks hissed with escaping gas until they both exploded. The first propane tank's explosion sent shrapnel into the man's leg and lower back, shredding and burning through armor, flesh and clothing. The second one propane tank was located at the top of the man's pack and it's explosion sent shrapnel through the his head and back, killing him instantly. When the explosions all died down, Omega-7 all hoped that the fight was over but noticed that the highlighted form of the two men that had run away earlier returning to the battlefield. Swearing under his breath, Colin jumped to his feet and rushed to the nearest piece of available cover. As he was moving, one the hostiles was able to get around the corner and fire of his AK-47 wildly, one of the rounds managing to hit Colin the shoulder, causing him to stubble. However, due to his training and experience, he was able to catch himself and keep moving to cover. As their attackers were able to turned the corner, the rest of Omega-7 was able pop out of their cover to return fire. The new attackers were similar to the once that proceed them. They wore hazmat suits like the others but had full faced gas masks, sanitation department vests, and both had AK-47s and another weapon that looked was also home made that they assumed were flamethrowers from the garden hoses that ran into them from the propane tanks on their backs. As they pushed forward, Alex's turret opened up on the two attackers, causing them to dive for cover. As Alex's turret continued to suppress them, Mateo and Ryan pushed forward to a better position. Once there, they opened up on the two. Mateo ignited one of the propane tanks and when the other one noticed and tried to run for cover, the turret and Ryan quickly dropped him before he got anywhere. The last one hostile left struggled to removed the propane tank but wasn't able to in time and the tank exploded, effectively ending his life. With all hostiles cleared, Omega-7 got up and cautiously moved up to make sure the area was secure. Sending out another pulse, which pinged no more hostiles, Omega-7 let out a breath of relief. While Colin patched up his wounded shoulder to the best of his field medic abilities and the supplies on hand, Ryan and the rest of the team checked the dead. As Alex and Mateo secured the perimeter, Ryan picked up the AKs the last two men as well as a few magazines and whistled to get Alex and Mateo's attention to give them the Assault Rifles for temporary use. Once Colin was done and they pick all the remaining firearms and ammo, they continued to make their way to Camp Hudson.

The rest of the journey to Camp Hudson turned out to be uneventful as the team as they passed through the Chelsea district down 10th avenue. Things had calm down after the engagement. The wildlife started to show up again to start picking at the dead. Civilians had began coming out of their homes to either make their way to the refugee camp at Camp Hudson or to scavenge for supplies. No one said anything. No one wanted to. The last engagement was an eye opener. They knew the situation in Manhattan was bad but an armed group of people walking around burning people both dead and alive was a new story. They had to get to Camp Hudson and get a proper situation report from the JTF there. As they moved around the perimeter of the Camp Hudson, they came across the front of the camp. There was a hole in the side of the tent while the main entrances were blocked by burned trucks. The interior was burned, everything burned black and covered in ash as well as a few fires still burning inside.

"This can't be good." Alex muttered. As they proceeded through the hole, they came across a depressing sight. While a walkway had been made so JTF members can walk in and out of the base, the walkway was flanked with rows of filled body bags. On their right side were large holes dung into the ground and filled body bags surrounding them. Some of the holes were filled, some were empty, and others looked like they were half filled, stopped mid-burial. As they finished walking the path and walked through an open gate, they came upon another open walkway, this one not having any dead lining it but fences instead. As they walked through they heard shushes and whispers from the civilians waiting to get processed on the other side of the fence. Walking passed them, they entered the connecting tent. Inside were two unmanned decontamination units and plenty of garbage.

"This is fucking ridiculous. I've seen one guard this entire time walking over and now they have an unmanned decontamination unit. Whoever is running this base needs to get their shit together." Ryan said to no one on particular. The team scan themselves to make sure that them or their gear wasn't contaminated. Once done, they walked through some UV filtered lights and finally entered the camp.

"Alright, we need to get a better understanding of the situations here in Manhattan and what we're up against." Ryan said. "Scorch, gather what intelligence you can about the situation here and the factions at play. Courier, get over to the medical tent and get that injury checked. Last thing we need is that injury getting infect and you being out of the fight. Recker, start gathering supplies and check the extra weapons into the JTF. I'll start looking for other Agents and go have a talk with whoever the hell is in charge of this sorry excuse of a camp. Agreed?" The rest of the team just nodded and moved to complete their tasks. Alex and Colin both walked over to the medical tent and just as they were about to enter, they heard a helicopter closing in. Turning around, they saw the helicopter approaching the base and descending to the land on one of the piers. Shrugging, Colin enter the medical tent while Alex walked off to talk to the quartermaster. Turning in the guns captured, including the two AKs, from the attackers went rather quick and the quartermaster asked if he want to exchange the two AKs for better armaments as he could see that the weapons had been damaged, which Alex quickly agreed. The process took a few minutes and as he waited for weapons to be exchanged, he noticed someone walk into the camp from another entrance. Noticing the glowing orange watch, Alex called the Agent over.

"Agent, over here." Alex waved him over. "Agent Alex Lee, callsign Recker, Second Wave."

"Henry Walker, Guardian. Second Wave like you." The agent said shaking Alex's hand. "You were activated Manhattan?"

"No, I was activated in Brooklyn. The team I'm a part of was sent over not long before the bird carrying the commander was hit."

"No kidding, my partner and I were right outside it when it exploded. I was out cold when the JTF pick us up and for most of the trip over here. My partner didn't get off so lucky. She was pretty badly wounded. JTF medics are taking care of her right now but she's going to be out of the fight for a long while."

"Your partner is another Agent?"

"Yeah, Agent Faye Lau. She seemed pretty devastated after the explosion and I have a feeling it wasn't just because the loss of the commander." This immediately caught Alex's attention.

"I'm sorry, you said your partner was Faye Lau." Alex asked making sure he heard him correctly. "That's why Colin looked so depressed and practically broken after the explosion."

"I'm sorry, who? And how do you know Agent Lau?"

"Agent Colin Washington, my squad leader. And I don't but he knows her very well from what I saw. I should probably tell him she's alive." Alex said. Henry agree and noticed the JTF quartermaster come back to the table with two Assault Rifles, an M4 and a SCAR-L.

"Here you go, sir. If you need ammo, its right over there." The quartermaster pointed at the a supply box off to the side.

"Thanks." With that the two Agents walked over to the supply box. As Alex started loading up on ammo for his new rifle, he turned his attention back to the Agent. "Let me call it in that I found you before I tell him." Henry nodded before helping Alex load rounds into a fresh mag. As he finished loading up the mag, Henry looked over from where he had entered through to see Faye walking by the memorial wall with the help of a JTF officer until she looked up and froze, the JTF medical officer confused on why she stopped. Alex, who had just signed off his radio, noticed Henry looking at something and when he realized what he was looking at, started watching as well. Alex looked where Agent Lau was looking and saw Colin standing outside of the medical tent, unsure of what to do with himself until he looked over at in Agent Lau direction. Henry was about to walk over to talk to her when Alex stopped him and nodded toward Colin who just dropped everything and ran toward Faye. When he got close enough, he stopped to reach out and touch her but hesitated as if he didn't actually believe she was there. Faye saw this and asked the JTF officer to hand her over to her fellow Agent. The JTF medic hesitated for a moment before nodded and Faye carefully slung an arm over Colin's shoulder as Colin quickly snapped out of his little trance and held on to her to steady her and after she said a few thing to him that they couldn't hear, the two slowly made their way to the medical tent, Colin moving at Faye's pace to make sure he wasn't causing her any discomfort. On the side, Alex, Henry, and few JTF members watched the two before going back to their tasks at hand. After the another magazine was filled with ammo, Alex and Henry looked over to check how far Colin and Faye had walked and saw that they were almost at the medical tent. Much to Faye's confusion and to those still watching, Colin stopped walking. It was at that moment that Colin decided to pick up Faye and carry her the rest of the way into the medical tent, against her embarrassed protests. The two watching Agents lost sight of what was happening after the tent flap closed. Deciding it would be wrong to snoop on them, they went back to finish the task they started. Once they were finished, they ran into Mateo who had just finished talking to a group of National Guardsmen and women who had been further east, on the other side of the Dark Zone.

"Hey, Mateo. This is Agent Henry Walker. Henry, this is Agent Mateo Alejandros." The two shook hands. "So what did you get?" Alex asked as he gave Mateo the M4.

"Nothing good. I went around talking to people and it seems the situation ranges from bad to fucked. They lost contact with a man named Roy Benitez this morning when he left the Base of Operation in the main post office this morning. From what I heard, he's the one in charge of the JTF."

"Damn. Alright, so what are we up against?"

"Multiple hostile factions. On this side of the island, we got Rioters, Cleaners, Rikers, and LMB. Rioters are similar enough to ones we faced in Brooklyn, just a little more organized. Cleaners are guys with the hazmat suits and flamethrowers that we fought earlier, lead by some fanatic named Joe Ferro, who believes the only way to save the city is to burn the virus out. The Rikers are escaped inmates from Riker's Island. When they escaped from prison, the united under some lady name LaRae Barrett. She's the one who organized the escape to Manhattan. JTF reports that these guys are animals, killing anyone but mainly targeting anyone in a uniform as some kind of revenge. The last faction we have to deal with is LMB, or the Last Man Battalion. They're a PMC group that as hired by Wall Street executives to protect their interests but were abandoned here after they left. They were originally part of the JTF but their leader, Lieutenant Colonel Charles Bliss, didn't like how the JTF ran things and executed a JTF official. They've set up what is basically a fascist rule over most of the east part of Manhattan, up to Midtown. Worse of all is that they have gear on par with Division Agents." Mateo said listing everything he heard. The two other Agents just groaned. Taking back New York was going to be a very hard fight.

"Well I better go tell Agent Lau." Henry said walking over to the medical tent. Mateo and Alex watched him walk in only for him turn on his heel and walk right back out. "I'll tell her later. She seem busy with Agent Washington."

"What were they doing?" Mateo asked. Henry just shook his head and waved it off without answering, leaving them wondering what was going. Letting their curiosity get the better of them, both Mateo and Alex walked over and peeked their heads in. As they looked in, they noticed that the tent was empty with the exception of Faye and Colin. Off to the side, Faye was seated on a stretcher with her arms around Colin's neck and Colin's arms around her waist as he stood in front of her. Colin was leaning his head against Faye's. Unable to see what they were to doing, Alex and Mateo just shrugged and left, thinking nothing of it. Rejoining Henry, Mateo went back to the makeshift armory to load up on ammo for his new assault rifle. A few minutes and several filled M4 magazines later, Mateo, Alex, and Henry debated on what to do next, ultimately deciding to find Agent Horton and tell him the situation in Manhattan. It took a few minute to find him but they caught him walking out the tent used as the main command center, cursing under his breath.

"Sir."

"Agents." Ryan noticed the one Agent of the group he didn't recognize. "You must be Guardian. I'm Agent Ryan Horton, callsign Cobra. That makes nine Agents at the base. I haven't found anyone else so I guess I'll get everyone together and we can discuss a plan." They all nodded and followed Cobra. They ended at a walkway to the right of the exit. Pressing his radio, Ryan sent out a message to all the Agents he had encountered. "This is Agent Ryan Horton. All Division Agent link up at my position. We're to the right of the exit. We'll regroup and figure out what to do from there. Cobra out." For the next few minutes, they waited for Agents to show up until all nine agents were present, last one to show up being Colin. There were four Agents that no one on Omega-7 recognized, three females and one of the males.

"Alright let's begin. Guess we should probably introduce ourselves considering we're going to be working together from now on. Names, callsign if you got one, and squad if you're in one. I'll start. My name is Ryan Horton, callsign Cobra."

"Colin Washington, Courier, Omega-7." Colin said next. Before anyone could continue, a voice came from his radio.

"Faye Lau." Everyone looked at Colin with a confused looked. "I'm not there at the moment. I've been confined to the medical tent so Agent Washington has volunteered to be my eyes and ears for this meeting." All the other Agents just nodded and continued introducing themselves.

"Alex Lee, Recker, Omega-7"

"Mateo Alejandros, Scorch, Omega-7."

"Ada Yusuf, Spook." Said the first woman. She had dark brown hair and blue eyes. From her appearance, it was easily to see that she had middle eastern ancestry.

"Sabina Ivanov, Phantom." the next woman said. While it wasn't obvious, a Russian accent could be heard in her voice. She had black hair and had a pair of sunglasses on that hid her eyes, yet Colin could feel her staring at him.

"Katrina Kaip." The last woman said. She had dark brown hair dyed red and brown eyes and was of Indian descent.

"Erick Warren, Reaper, Titan team, First Wave Agent." The unknown male agent said.

"Henry Walker, Guardian." Henry said. Being the last Agent to introduce himself, he looked back at the Ryan.

"Are we all caught up to speed with situation here in the city?" Getting a mixed reply of yes and no, Ryan had Mateo explain what he found out about the situation and the factions on the streets with some extra information from the other Agents. Once everyone was caught up, Warren asked the questions that in the back of everyone's mind?

"What's the mission and who's charge of the Second Wave?"

"Ryan is the highest ranking Division Agent in the city at the moment so that's makes him the acting-commander. As for the mission, it doesn't change. We do what we came here to do. We save what remains. We were trained to operate independently without orders for extended period so we're doing just that." Colin answered.

"Exactly. Since we're in such low numbers, we'll be working with the JTF more closely. Coordinate with them and give them support out on the field if need be." Ryan continues.

"More importantly, we have a lot of Agents unaccounted for, First and Second Wave. If you come across traces of a missing Agents, follow it until you can recover the Agent. If its just the watch, recover it and bring it back. If you're unable to follow the trail due to time constraints or you're on a mission, call it in and another team will handle it. We look after our own and we don't leave people behind." Colin said.

"Due to how few of us there are, we can't risk having all of us operate individually. Everyone will be assigned to a team of four."

"Sir, there are 10 of us. That leaves two people out. What are those two who aren't part of a team to do." Sabina said

"My injuries have incapacitated me for awhile so I unfortunately won't be involved with any work on the field. I'll be providing support for the teams and coordinate with the JTF. That just leaves one Agent without a team." Faye brought up.

"We'll see who's left after everyone's assigned and decide from there." Colin said.

"Alright, we need another squad leader since Agent Washington is already one. If no one takes the role, I'll assume it." Ryan said. No one objected. "Agent Washington, you and your team are going to be our first responders. Choose another Agent for your team then move out. Your first objective is securing the Base of Operations."

"Copy that. We're your front runners." Colin said. "Hmm, Front Runners, I like that. Anyways, Warren, you're with us. If we're the first responders then I want someone who's know what we're going up against and some experience on how to deal with them"

"Sorry, sir, but Agent Washington won't be able to participate in that mission. The chief medical officer want him back him back at the medical tent." Faye said over the radio. "Walker, go with his team and help secure the base." Henry nodded and walked over to the rest of Omega-7.

"I'm probably going to regret this but Alex your in charge until I get back. I'm trusting you on this so don't fuck up." Colin said, emphasizing the last part.

"Alright that means what you three are with me. Squad designation is Alpha-9." Ryan said nodding toward the three female Agents present. "Everyone, you're dismissed. Gather what you need and get to it. Good hunting, Agents." With that all the Agents walked off to do something before except one. Still at the meeting area, Erick tap his ear piece once everyone was out of ear shot.

"You got all that, boss?"

"I did. Good job, Reaper. Keep an eye on those Agents for now and start planting the seed of doubt in their mind about the JTF and SHD but don't blow your cover. I'll do some research on our new friends, they might prove to be quite useful." The voice over the radio said.

"Copy that, Vanguard. Reaper out." Erick shut off the radio and jogged to catch up with the rest of the team he was placed on.

 **A/N**

 **Alright, that's a wrap. Gods, that took much longer than expected. Thanks for giving my story a read. I really do appreciate it. Anyways I'm not really sure what else to include in this author note so I'm just gonna end it here.**

 **Like it? Hate it? Somewhere in between? Comment/review or PM me if that's more your style.**

 **Thanks again and have a great day.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N**

 **Hello everybody. Just wanted to say thank you for all those reading. I really do appreciate. I'm glad that you guys are finding an interest in this. Not much to say this time around so I guess onto the disclaimer.**

 **Disclaimer: TC's the Division belongs to Ubisoft and its respective developers. I only own some of the characters and some of the plot to this story. Any names that are similar or identical to that of someone in our reality is completely coincidental.**

 **Now onto the story.**

 _Camp Hudson, Manhattan, New York_

Once Omega-7 was deployed, the rest of the members of the SHD took the moment of peace as an opportunity to gear up for the coming relocation to the James A. Farley Building, the post office building that the JTF had established their Base of Operations in. Colin had returned to the medical tent and upon entering was immediately scolded by both the medical officer that just patched him up and the Division agent inside. Ryan was coordinating with the JTF lieutenant left in charge of the camp and helping him get a better grip on the situation in and around the camp by giving him advice on how where to deploy JTF to maintain order. As for the rest of Alpha-9, they had assembled in one of the mess tents to get to know each other better.

"So where are you two from? I'm from Queens." Katrina asked.

"California." Sabina said, her Russian accent barely noticeable. Being born and raised in the US has lessened the accent she picked up from her parents.

"Washington." Ada said. "The state, not the capital" She had to clarify it so often that's its become a force of habit. The three fell into an almost uncomfortable silence as they tried to think of what to next. As they sat there, Ada remember seeing Sabina shifting her gaze to a certain squad leader multiple times during the meeting. Years in the CIA has taught her how to follow the gaze of people even when they're wearing sunglasses. "Hey Sabina, during the meeting, why did you keep looking at Courier?"

"Aww, does someone have a crush?" Katrina teased.

"What? God no. Screw him. He can get shot for all I care." Sabina huffed. Ada started laughing but stopped as she saw the two people who entered the mess tent.

"Way ahead of you, I already got shot." Colin said as he walked in while supporting Faye, who sent a jab into his side for making light of him getting shot. "You know if I drop you, you get more time safe behind a desk in the Base of Operations. Don't tempt me." He said as he helped her down onto a bench before going over to the table that had hot food on it and grabbing one for Faye and himself.

"Why do I put up with you? The doctor said I can move around fine with crutches." Faye said with a small chuckle. The other three agents decided the stay quiet, mostly out of curiosity of the two Agents they had no previous interaction with and watched Colin hand Faye her food and sit down.

"Because you enjoy having me around." Colin said jokingly. "Also, medical is having a hard time finding crutches." Due to the number of patients Camp Hudson got, both civilian and JTF, medical supplies, equipment, and available staff, were running dangerously low. Before anyone could reply to anything he said, Colin's ear piece beeped a few times before coming to life.

"Colin, it's Ryan. I need you in the command tent ASAP." Ryan's exhausted voice come over the radio with a heavy sigh.

"Copy that. I'm on my way." Colin said as the transmission was ended.

"Who was that?" Faye asked.

"Ryan and he didn't sound happy. Probably in some kind of trouble again. I'll be back as soon as I can." Colin said as he stood up and began to walk away before turning around. "Hey, if something comes up and I'm not back by the time Agent Lau is done or she's recalled to medical tent, can one of you take her back?" He asked the other three Agents in the tent to which the three gave him a thumbs up. "Thanks." He said as he left. A few seconds, Colin came back into the tent and grabbed his previously forgotten meal and quickly left once more. The three members of Alpha-9 looked at Faye as she chuckled and shook her head.

"Hey, Agent Lau, was it?" Katrina said drawing Faye's attention. "What's up with Agent Washington? He seemed so much more serious earlier during the meeting."

"Yeah, Colin's personality differs depending on who he's around. He's a lot colder and more serious when he's around people he doesn't know or when he's on a mission. He's nice once you get to know him but he's also much more sarcastic once you do so it's not all great." Faye said earning a laugh from the other three who got up to take a seat by Agent Lau.

"So how did you meet?" Ada asked. Faye took a moment to remember how she met the man when she finally remembered.

"It was at a party at this bar my sister dragged me to because she felt I wasn't social enough." Faye started.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 _Flashback_

 _Manhattan, New York, several years before the Dollar Flu hit_

 _"Heather, do we have to be here?" Faye ask as they stood in front of a bar._

 _"Yes, now come on. You promised."_

 _"Yeah, I promised to spent time with you." Faye said, emphasizing the you._

 _"And you will be, just with a couple of my friends around as well." Heather said with an innocent smile. "And who knows, maybe you'll meet someone nice." This caused Faye to groan. She was getting tired of her sister trying to play matchmaker. The two spent the next couple of minutes talking about other things as they waited for Heather's friends. When they finally arrived, the group went inside and joined the party._

 _Faye watched as her sister and her friends having fun from a seat by the bar. While she would have preferred to be home or working, she had to admit it was nice to get out and have a bit of fun even if she wasn't drinking as much as nearly everyone else was at the party. As she looked around the bar, she noticed another group of people having a bit of fun themselves. Their dancing and movements showed that they were clearly drunk and it caused her to laugh as she heard their slurred speech and the drunken movements.  
_

 _"Ah, so you've noticed them." a voice said next to her. Turning, she saw the man who had spoken. He had his back to the crowd and had an almost empty glass of alcohol in his hand. "Those drunken idiots over there, the ones you were just looking at, are my friends." He said before finishing off his drink._

 _"So why aren't you over there joining them?"_

 _"Because that," He pointed over his shoulder with his thumb and as if on cue, one of his friends tried to lean on the round table there but completely misjudged the distance and ended up leaning on the very edge of the table and fell over, bringing the table down with them and shattering the glasses on the table in the process. "was our driver."_

 _"How did you know...?" The man looked the back at his friends._ _He sighed as he turned back to bar and signaled the bartender for another._

 _"Want anything?"_

 _"No, I'm fine. Thank you." He just shrugged and took a sip from his freshly refilled drink and told the bartender that he would only wanted water after this. "What are you drinking?" Faye asked curiously._

 _"Lemonade mixed with whiskey. Not something I have often but then again I don't drink often." He once again shrugged and took another drink before turning his body to face Faye. "So what's with you? Why aren't you with your friends?"_

 _"How do you know that I didn't come alone?"_

 _"Because you're constantly watching that group over there, especially her." The man pointed at the group she had entered with and then at her sister. "Also I watched you walk in with them."_

 _"Observant one, aren't you? And how long have you been watching me tonight?" She ask_ _suspiciously._

 _"Have to be. If I'm not, I, or one of them, would have died by now." He said gesturing to his friends. Noticed her confused glance, he clarified. "Right, we just met. We're in the Army. The drunk idiots over there are my squad mates. We're currently on leave at the moment. And I haven't been watching too long. Just long enough to know that you're not very social and that you hold your liquor better than the Bones over there." He gestured to the man passed out on the floor. "He's fine." The man said although he didn't sound too sure of what he said. He looked over back at Faye and noticed her sister was walking over, stumbling slightly as she did so._

 _"Faye! There you are! I've been looking all over for you." Heather said, slurring her words slightly. Noticing the man next to her sister, Heather turned her attention to him. "Hello, what's your name?"_

 _"Colin."_

 _"I'm Heather and this is my sister Faye." Heather introduced herself and her sister. Looking back at her sister, she noticed that her and Faye were facing one another. "Oh, were you two talking? I'm sorry for interrupting. I'll let you get back to talking." She said before bending over to whisper a 'good luck' into Faye's ear. Faye knew the implication behind it and glared at her sister, who walked off with a smile and a wave._

 _"So she seemed nice." Colin said. "Drunk but nice."_

 _"Yeah." Faye said. She wasn't sure how to continue the conversation. She had just been responding to what Colin had been saying. "So, your name is Colin."_

 _"Yup. Colin Washington, at your service." Colin said with a smile and extending his hand out to shake. Faye stopped for a moment to think. He didn't seem that bad and maybe it was the alcohol in her system but she was starting to enjoy the conversation and company. Reaching out, she took his hand._

 _"Faye Lau." She replied with a smile of her own. The two continued to talk over a handful more drinks until another one of Colin's friends looked like they were about to pass out. With a sigh, Colin took that as a sign that he had to bring them home before anyone else lost consciousness._

 _"Guess I better get them home. Felix looks like he's about to join Bones on the floor." Colin said._

 _"How far are you guys going?"_

 _"To a car around the corner then back to my place in Brooklyn. They're crashing at my place for now but we have the rest of the week on leave so hopefully they decide to head back home in a few days to visit family and friends and be out of my hair."_

 _"Need any help getting them there?"_

 _"Nah, I should be fine. Thanks though." Colin said as he walked over and he payed the bartender for everything, including the damages. Needless to say his wallet felt a lot lighter. As he turned to see the state of his team, he was presented with the sight of all of them passed out. "On second thought, I might need that help after all." Faye could only laugh at the sight of Colin's friends and Colin's expression. After the long process of shoving everyone in the back seat of the car, Colin and Faye stood outside of the vehicle._

 _"Thanks for that. It would have taken me so much longer if I was doing this on my own." Colin said with a smile._

 _"No problem." Faye said as they fell into silence for a few moments. "Hey, do you mind if I tag along? I don't feel like hanging around here any longer." Maybe it was the alcohol in her system but she felt like she could trust him._

 _"Yeah, sure." Colin said. "I'll wait here to keep an eye on them while you grab your stuff and tell your sister." Faye nodded and walked off while Colin leaned against the car and watched her leave. After collecting her things and finding her bar tab being paid off, she told her sister she was leaving, receiving a few teases in response and a goodbye hug. Walking back to the car, she noticed Colin still leaning on the side of the car and looking up. She would find out later on that he always enjoyed looking at the night sky, even if you couldn't see that much in New York. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Faye walking over. "Ready to go?"_

 _"Yeah, let's get out of here." Colin opened the door for her and once she was in, he closed it behind her. Once he was in, he began driving everyone home._

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"And that's basically how we met." Faye finished telling them, leaving out the part of leave with him. "When he got back home, the other members of his team refused to get out so Colin ended leaving them there over night with the windows rolled down a bit and a blanket to cover them all." Faye laughed the memory of watching them drunkenly try to fight off Colin for interrupting their sleep.

"That's nice. He seems to be a nice enough person." Ada said. "So how long have you been together?"

"We've known each other for a couple of years before we just ended up losing touch with one another a little over three years ago." Faye answered, not understanding what Ada meant about the question.

"What happened?"

"I don't know really. From what I remember, he was usually off somewhere overseas and I was always too caught up in my work." Faye said. "We actually just ran into each other over in Brooklyn earlier. I'm just glad he wasn't on board to the bird that the Commander was on."

"Was he already in the city?"

"No, he had come over by boat. I wasn't as lucky. Agent Walker and I were right by it when it exploded. I took the worst of it." The rest took a moment of silence for the dead. After that, the four agents continued to speak on a much lighter topic.

While they continued to talk, Colin was in the command tent with Ryan. When he had arrived, Ryan was leaning over the center table and looking over a map of JTF patrol deployment. He looked tired and once he told Colin why, he could understand.

"You're joking?"

"Unfortunately, I'm not." Ryan said running a hand down his face. "JTF is a mess. The kid left in charge here can barely hold his own. Apparently the person they left in charge before him is KIA. Killed in an ambush by some Rioters a few days ago with the three other National Guardsmen. The poor kid they left in charge was only given the position because of his rank."

"Damn. So what does that have to do with me being here?"

"A few days ago, the Lieutenant send out a few patrols. Unfortunately, since the kid is greener than grass in the summer, he managed to lose track of them and they aren't responding to our hails."

"Let me guess, you want me to head out and find them." Colin guessed.

"Yeah. I know what I said earlier about not wanting us to head out on our own but you're the only one I know and trust enough to send out on their own to get the job done quick. My team and I need to prep to escort the next convoy to the base of operations, assuming your team can secure it in time."

"Hey, have a bit of faith. Alex and Mateo may be reckless but they get the job done. Erick and Henry are unknowns but if Erick was able to survive this long since he's a First Wave agent so I figured he can hold his own and Faye said Henry proved himself as a competent agent in Brooklyn." Colin said crossing his arms. Ryan raised an eye brow at him.

"You seem to have some a lot of history with Agent Lau."

"You can say that. I knew her from before the Dollar Flu."

"Alright well remember what they told us when we joined the SHD. Don't get attached."

"Yeah but I'm pretty sure it was more of a suggestion." Colin said with a smile as he took the rifle off his pack and checked the ammunition. Ryan just shrugged and dropped the subject. He couldn't blame him. With how things are, he could understand the want for some familiarity. "Anyways, send me the last known coordinates for those patrols and I'll head out as soon as I can." Ryan nodded and tapped his watch a few times.

"Alert: Receiving coordinates...Coordinates received. Waypoints marked." ISAC said.

"Got them. Don't worry, Ryan. I'll find those patrols for you."

"Thanks, Colin. Good luck out there." Ryan said with a nod before looking back over the maps and papers on the table. Once he left, Colin proceeded to quartermaster and restocked on ammo. Thankfully, the M4 he used was the most common weapon used by the JTF and there were freshly filled magazines waiting to be taken when he arrived. With all his ammo pouches filled, Colin walked over to the mess tent and as he got closer, he heard laughter. Peeking in, he saw Faye laughing and enjoying herself with the other members of Alpha-9. Not wanting to ruin the fun, Colin decided to silently leave and headed straight for the exit. As he was leaving, he nodded to the newly assigned JTF soldiers on guards at the decontamination checkpoint and continued toward the exit until he saw something that caught his eye. A gate that lead the destroyed refugee camp. Taking a look inside, he saw the place had been almost burned down. Figuring it must have happened on the last attack on the camp, he decided to have a quick look around. The one thing that caught his eye were the piles of bodies and the embers that were still barely lit. He was leave the area when ISAC came to life and said something that caught his attention.

"Active ECHO beacon nearby. Scanning...Scan complete. ECHO log ready to be activated."

"Guess I can spare a few more minutes." Colin said. "Activate ECHO log." With that, still holographic people appeared before his eyes with plenty of audio to go with it.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 _Pennsylvania Plaza, Manhattan, New York_

"We're coming up on the Base of Operations." Alex said. They already hear a firefight taking place. "Everyone ready?" Everyone nodded in the affirmative. "Alright, let's go. Supreme left!" The rest just looked at him in confusion as he took off running around the corner. They had just heard Agent Lau's voice over the comms telling the JTF dispatcher that they had friendly Division agents inbound and to check their fire.

"What the hell does supreme left mean?" Henry asked looking at the other two members of the team. Erick just ran after him without a word while Mateo simply shrugged and followed in suit. "Seriously, what the fuck does that mean?" Henry said to no one as he chased down the rest of the team. Sliding into cover, he could see a handful of Rioters outside firing at the JTF defenders. While the JTF had the tactical advantage, the Rioters had firepower and numbers on their side as they had a man with a RPK keeping their heads down while the rest advanced.

"Alert: Patching into local JTF radio channels." ISAC notified them.

"Unit 43? Be advised, you incoming Division agents as back up to your location." They heard the JTF dispatcher call in and warn the JTF squad on duty not to open fire on them.

"About damn time you got us some help! Get 'em over here right now!" one of the JTF soldier responded before orders start coming through for the men defending.

"Let's take them out." Alex said as he pop out of cover and fire a quick burst into a Rioter. The rounds struck the Rioter with a baseball in the leg, taking him out of the fight as he collapsed to clutch his leg and scream. The rest quickly took advantage of the confusion and opened fire on the Rioters, dropping four others before they had the sense to fire back.

"Keep their heads down!" The man with the RPK yelled at one of the Rioters, who nodded and kept firing at the suppressed JTF soldiers. The heavy gunner quickly turned to face them to unload the rest of his magazines toward the cover that the four Division Agents were taking cover behind. The stream of bullets quickly came to halt as the light machine gun quickly ran out of ammo. "Shit, I'm reloading." the gunner yelled to his men. The agents heard this and took the opportunity to a move.

"Scatter!" Alex yelled as they all took off for different cover. Henry found himself near Alex on the right side of the street while Mateo and Erick went left.

"Deploying Seeker." Henry announced as he dropped the automated orb. The mine beeped once before rushing toward the heavy as he was trying to load his weapon. The Seeker Mine went unnoticed as it closed the gap between itself and the crouched man. By the time, the Rioter noticed it, it was too late. The mine detonated, sending deadly shrapnel into the man, killing him almost instantly. With him gone, the JTF took this as an opportunity to strike back. Now pushed on the defensive and losing men, the Rioters were quickly realized that they had lost their advantage and began retreating. After sending a few more bursts their way, Omega-7 and the JTF officers guarding stopped shooting. Once they were clear, one of the JTF soldiers walked out of his cover and approached the agents.

"Thanks for the save. I swear these Rioters are getting bolder every day." The corporal held out his hand to shake. "Corporal Biggs, National Guard."

"Agent Recker, Strategic Homeland Division. We were sent ahead of a convoy that's en route to help you secure it the base. What's the situation here?"

"Not good, sir. We're down three guys and that's the third wave of Rioters today. First and second wave, we beat off easily but they're starting to break out the big guns." Just as he finished saying that, a bullet struck the corporal in the neck, spraying blood onto Alex. The war cry and discharging of firearms quickly followed as a new wave of Rioter came down the street.

"Shit! Fourth wave incoming. Scorch, cover me. Guardian, Reaper, you two keep their heads down." Alex ordered as he tried to keep the corporal from bleeding out as Mateo gave covering fire. Henry and Erick both nodded and ran join the JTF on the stairs to get to a better elevated position. Once there, Erick dropped his bag and set up his M249B light machine gun on its bipod and started putting 5.56 rounds down range to suppress the advancing Rioter.

"Guardian, I need you to do something." Erick said.

"What's up?" Henry asked as he dropped behind the sandbags to reload.

"I need you to go into my bag and grab me ammo. I'm almost out." Henry grabbed his bag and started going through it, almost immediately finding the ammo belt.

"Got it." Grabbing the ammo belt, he place the ammo on his neck for easy access. Erick didn't respond and kept firing. A few Rioters were unlucky enough to get caught in the stream of fire while trying to move to better cover and were mowed down.

Meanwhile, Alex and Mateo had moved the dying corporal to the side and Alex was doing his best to save the man's life but with his lack in medical training, it wasn't looking good. Mateo popped out of cover and let loose another burst, killing another Rioter before driven back to cover by a hail of bullets.

"Dammit! Mateo, keep pressure on this wound." Alex ordered. Once Mateo had applied pressure, Alex reached into his bag and grabbed his turret. Grabbing it by the handle, Alex tossed the turret on top of an abandoned NYPD squad car and immediately went back to trying to help the JTF soldier. "Don't you die on me. You're gonna be okay." Alex said looking the man in the eyes as he applied dressing on the wound. Biggs's eye showed fear and he was coughing out a lot of blood until suddenly, he stopped. "No, no, no, no." Alex said as he tried feeling for the man's pulse. "Goddammit!" Alex cursed as he grabbed his rifle and began to return fire. The exchange went on for a few more minutes as the Rioters realized just how badly outmatched they were.

Even if they had the numerical and firepower advantage, most lacked any kind of training with a firearm and even less had any kind of experience or training on what to do in a combat scenario. After watching several of their comrades get killed by the JTF and now by these agents, most were quickly getting disheartened. All of them were doing this for than just survival and as they are learning now, their life expectancy was getting shorter the longer they stayed in the fight. A lot of them had families they wanted to get back to or didn't think the JTF would fight back like this. They thought could intimidate the JTF into giving them their food by waving around some guns, maybe fire off a shot or two in air to show they meant business. Now where they were in the biggest fight of their lives and they weren't ready to die. Faced with this situation, many of them made what they felt was the best choice. They ran.

With a good number of the Rioters fleeing, the combined JTF and Division force was a able to push their advantage.

"Don't shoot the ones running." Alex ordered everyone over the radio. Getting a number of affirmatives, they all turned their attention to those that stayed to fight.

"Alert: Incoming transmission from Cobra." ISAC notified Alex.

"Recker, the convoy is getting prepped but we're still getting reports of shooting. Is the base secure?" Ryan asked.

"Just cleaning up now, sir." Alex replied as he blind-fired his assault rifle until it clicked, signalling it was out of ammo. Swapping to his MP7, he popped out his cover and dropped the Daredevil that was trying to toss a tear gas grenade. The grenade went off by his corpse, blanketing the other Rioters around him in the gas followed by fragmentation grenade going off as well, killing all of them that were staggering in the cloud of gas.

"That doesn't sound like you 'just cleaning up', agent." Faye's voice came over the radio next.

"The base will be secure before you can here. Show a little faith." Alex said. Behind him, he heard Henry yell out a warning as he tossed out a Seeker Mine, soon followed by the mine exploding and someone's scream. The next thing he heard was his turret clicking as it ran out of ammo before it took a handful of rounds from the Rioters, destroying the sentry. "Sentry's down. Let's wrap this up people." Alex shouted. Erick stood up and pulled out a small launcher and fired as small canister that stuck itself onto Rioter's chest. The man started freaking out as it started beeping, yelling at his friends around him to pull it off when the device went off kill him and those around him in a large explosion. With only two remaining, they tried to make a break for it to regroup with their gang but were quickly tore up by 5.56 rounds from Erick's light machine gun. After that, the area around the Base of Operations fell into an eerie silence as the last of the gunfire echoed through the streets of New York until the moans and groans of the dying began started to be heard over the ringing in their ears.

"Clear." Erick said.

"We're clear over here too." Mateo said as he stood up from his cover and dropped the empty magazine from his rifle and slammed home a fresh one.

"Dispatch, the situation outside is now under control." One of the JTF soldiers said. "My official report? The Division saved our sorry asses."

"Thanks for the report, Bravo Squad. Uh, stay alert out there and keep it frosty. I'm glad you made it." Dispatch responded.

"Now let's go rebuild our base." Faye said. "Go on in and have a look around. We've finally got some transportation so we're inbound. Let's do this."

"You heard her, agents. Regroup on me." Alex said. "Scorch, Reaper, you're with me. We're staying out here and helping the JTF secure the area and help them clear the area of bodies for the convoy. Guardian, head on in and check the place out." Henry nodded and jogged over to to the entrance of the Base of Operations. Walking though the flaps, Henry was walked through the tent until he ISAC came to life as he was about to enter the UV lights.

"Air ventilation and purification system online. Contamination levels lowered." ISAC reported. Once through, Henry entered the actual building. As he did so, Faye's voice came over his comms.

"Agents, we need our base up and running and we need to show the people of New York they're getting their city back. Our base of operations has potential, but right now it's a piece of shit and we've got no one to staff it. To get this place where it needs to be, we need people who know what they're doing." Faye said on an open channel with every other agent. "Like doctors. There's a virologist running a field hospital over at Madison Square Garden, but the whole area's gone to shit. With her, we can get our medical facilities online. Without her..." Faye trailed off, not needing to say what happened if they didn't get the doctor and her staff. "The JTF commander, Benitez, is out in the field and he's gone offline. Bring him back. We need him to set up a functional security wing. And, it'll do a hell of a lot for morale. We've also got to restore basic services. We need power and the intel the grid can give us. They had a guy working on that but it sounds like he ran into trouble patching us in. Without him, it's lights out." Faye gave everyone the run down of the situation of the base through the comms. "ISAC can map itself to each of the wings in the base and sync their progress so we can have a bigger picture of what's happening here. And the more stable this base is, the better shape the city will be in." With that the communication line between all of them went silent. His comms beeped one more time as Ryan got into contact with him.

"Guardian, Recker told you were already inside so I need you to do something for me. Head over to each of the wings and boot up the terminals there. Those terminals allow ISAC to connect to each wing individually so we need them online if we want to fast track getting this base operational again. Head over to whichever one you want to first and I'll walk you through it. Copy?"

"Copy. I'm heading over to medical first." Henry said heading toward the medical wing. Once there, he quickly located the terminal, which evidently was a laptop in the middle of the room, and booted it up. Following Ryan's instructions, Henry was quickly able to get the terminal online and once he did, the area around him came to life through his contact lenses as images appeared around him and mark areas in the medical wing for him and gave him a progress circle of the medical wing. Heading over to the security wing, Henry redid everything he did in the medical wing and got the security wing online with the same thing happening in the security wing once its terminal was online. Doing the same thing once he got upstairs to the tech wing and getting the same results to let him know it was working, Henry walked downstairs to see Faye being supported by into the building by a JTF medic with Alpha-9 behind her.

"Where's Agent Washington?" Henry asked, surprised that he wasn't already with Faye.

"I don't know. The acting commander said he gave Colin a mission to track down some missing JTF patrols but we haven't heard from him since he picked up trail of one of the missing patrols." Faye said with a sigh before pushing the JTF medic away. "Listen, I got bad news - Colin was right. I'm not going to be able to get out there, not with my goddamn leg like this. I'll do what I can from here, but it's not the same. You have no idea how much I wanted to be in the field. I trained for a scenario like this for years. But it's worse than anything we could have imagined." Faye said as Alpha-9 walked past the two agents. "You know how they won't let you get too close to anyone? So it won't mess you up when you're finally activated? Well, I did that and it didn't fucking work. I'm attached. These are my people. This is my city, and we're taking it back." Before she could continue, she grunted in pain and the JTF officer quick reentered the picture.

"Look you need to..." he said before being cut off by Faye.

"Yeah, okay...okay. " She said slightly annoyed as she slung her arm over the medic's shoulders and she turned back to Henry. "They're counting on us. Let's not let them down." With that, the medic began moving Faye to the where she would be work. Turning back toward the entrance, Henry watched the rest of Omega-7 and the Unit 43 enter.

"Hey, good job getting everything set up." Alex said as walked in. "You can take your gear off. Agent Horton said he'll contact us for briefing once we're ready for our next mission." Mateo and Erick both walked passed them, hoping to get something to eat before the next mission.

"Any idea when that might be?" Henry asked, a little anxious with the adrenaline still filtering out of his system.

"I don't know. Most likely when Agent Washington gets back, but be ready for anything. I heard that Agent Horton might be mixing up the two teams to use our strengths for whatever the next missions might be."

"Thanks for the heads up." With that, Alex walked off to go find a change of clothes that wasn't covered in blood. Henry, on the other hand decide that this would be a good time to go over his equipment and relax for a bit.

 **A/N**

 **And that's a wrap. Thank you so much for waiting this long. It has been awhile since I updated this story and I do apologize for that. This chapter was a bit trickier to write than others since I haven't played the beginning of the game in a very long time. In fact, I had to use a youtube walkthrough to get the dialogue for the securing the Base of Operations. But I will admit, it was interesting to write with my own twist on it. Things should get progressively easier to write since they're replayable missions in game and I get to start adding my own parts.**

 **Now I have to address the whole "Supreme Left" thing. While playing the game, my friend, the one Alex is based on is, was put in charge of the leading us and he started calling himself the 'Supreme Leader' and every time he did something, such as turn a corner or roll, he shout "Supreme left" or "Supreme roll." The rest of us had no idea what he was talking about but we rolled with it. Needless to say he is no longer allowed to take point.**

 **So what did you guys think about this chapter? Like it? Hate it? Somewhere in between? Leave me a comment/review or shoot me a PM if that's more you're style. I can't wait to hear from you.**

 **Anyways, that's it for this chapter. Thanks again for reading this chapter and being patient. Have a great day.**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N**

 **Hey everybody. I'll be honest, I'm not sure how many people still read Division stories anymore but I'm going to continue it. I like this game and this story too much to abandon it. Updates for this story are going to be a little weird since I have other stories in the works as well but as I start finishing stories, I can better shift more attention to this and other places. Also I'm just plan terrible when it comes to working on a time schedule. Anyways, disclaimer time.**

 **Disclaimer: TC's the Division belongs to Ubisoft and its respective developers. All I own are a few of the characters and some of the plot. Names of characters similar or same to someone in real life is complete coincidental.**

 **Now onto the story.**

 _Agent Courier, Chelsea, Manhattan, New York_

Colin was stood there looking at the holographic image of Heather Lau, Faye's sister. When her name popped up, he was surprised to say the least, but when her current status was listed as missing, he was more concerned for her safety than anything else, even if they didn't exactly see eye-to-eye a lot of the time. She was important to Faye so Colin knew he had to at least try to find her. Thankfully, the audio log that had just played gave him an idea of where to search for her. Unfortunately, he had other duties to complete first. Marking the location of Heather's apartment, Colin jogged out of the refugee camp and made his way to his first objective.

After a few minutes of jogging, Colin came across his first waypoint. And the first patrol. Their bodies were scattered around the street with looters trying to pick the corpses clean. With a curse, Colin raised his rifle.

"JTF! NOBODY MOVE!" Colin shouted. Technically, he was with the JTF. If anything, it was, at least, easier to say and less confusing than yelling 'Division' or 'SHD.' Some of the looters panicked and took off running, only to have bullets shoot near their feet, stopping them in their tracks. "I said nobody move. Why does no one ever just listen to instructions? NOW TURN AROUND AND WALK BACK SLOWLY OR I WILL BE FORCED TO SHOOT!" Colin shouted, not moving from his spot or dropping his aim. The looters that tried running did as they were told this time. Once everybody was back, he called out again. "I everyone on their knees and keep your hands where I can see them. Once more, they did as they were told and once on their knees with their hands up, Colin moved forward. "Now I want everyone to drop everything they took." Most of them did as they were told. However, others didn't. Instead, those that didn't listen decided to talk back to him.

"Why the hell should we listen to you? You're not JTF." One of them shouted. Giving him the once over, Colin knew he was a Rioter. To be safe, he sent out a pulse to make sure no one was around him or hiding.

"Because I'm the one with the gun and you were the ones caught looting a dead JTF team." Colin said. "And I'm a Division agent that works with the JTF so you can fuck right off."

"Man, fuck you. Let's get this asshole." the man said and reached for the pistol he had concealed with two others trying to do the same. However, he received a quick burst to the chest before he could even grab his weapon while the second Rioter took the next burst to the chest as well as he pulled the gun from his waistband. The third one was able to at least stand up and pull out his weapon before receiving several bullets to the chest, all while the civilians around them screamed. As the last man fell over dead, the rest of the survivors around them started begging and tried giving him reasons to let them live while they made sure to drop everything they took, including the items they had tried to hide.

"Everyone calm down, I'm not going to shoot you." Colin said to no avail. He tried to say a few other things but it was quickly drowned out by the screaming and begging. Getting more annoyed and quickly getting a headache as they tried yelling over each other, he removed his sidearm and fired it once into the side of a building, causing them to let off another scream before everyone got quiet. "Thank you." Taking a moment to look at them, he could see the signs of how badly these people were holding up. ISAC was able to quickly tell him that most were malnourished or dehydrated. He knew he had to help them somehow but he didn't have enough supplies on hand to give to everyone. With a sigh, he knew what he had to do. "Alright, listen up. I'm not going to hurt you but I can't let you loot those bodies. They're JTF and we still have rules." He could see the defeated looks on their faces as he said that. Some of them desperately needed the supplies they had grabbed off the body, even if it was only a water bottle and a energy bar. "But if some of their supplies were misplaced or already stole before I got here. Well, I'm not going to look too hard for them." He could see the survivors look at him with looks of disbelief and confusion. "I'm letting you keep the food and water. Don't let me or anyone else catch you out here trying this again. You've all be identified and tagged. This is your only warning, there won't be any second chances." He could see the hope light up on their faces when he said this. "Now get out of here before I change my mind." The survivors quickly did as they were told and gathered up what food and water they had in their small piles and took off running. As they had cleared out, Colin emptied out the contents of a travel bag nearby and placed all left over supplies and weapons he couldn't carry inside. Once done, he tapped his watch, bring up his map. "ISAC, patch me into any local JTF radio chatter."

"Affirmative. Scanning." the electronic voice told him. "Alert: local JTF comm frequency found. Patching you in." As he was patched in, he could hear the JTF team on the other end.

"Attention JTF team, this is Agent Courier. How copy?"

"What the hell? This is a secure JTF radio line. How did you get our radio?"

"Doesn't matter. What does matter is that I'm with the Division." A notification on appeared before him showing the voice recognition software scanning the voice before showing him the profile of the JTF officer. "Is this Corporal Becker from Charlie team."

"Y-yes, sir. Corporal Jesse Becker. How can I help you, sir?"

"Corporal, I'm currently on W 27th street, in between 9th and 10th ave. There's a down JTF team and a handful of gear I need you to collect. What's your location?"

"We're on 29th street and 9 ave, at the end of our patrol. We can be there in a few minutes."

"Copy that. I locked down the gear in a red travel bag that I've placed in the back of the broken police cruiser." Colin said as he did exactly that. "I would wait for you but I have two other patrols that are MIA and I have orders to find them."

"Copy that. Mind if I ask which patrols you're looking for, sir? We ran into one not long ago."

"I'm looking for Lima and Yankee team. Either one of those ring a bell?"

"Yes, sir, we ran into Lima team not long ago. Their radios were getting nothing but static whenever they tried checking in so they're doubling back to Camp Hudson as we speak."

"Copy that. Thanks a lot, Becker. You just saved me a lot of time."

"No problem, agent. We'll be there soon to pick up the gear. Good hunting out there, agent."

"You too. Stay safe out there. Courier out." With that, Colin dropped out of the radio frequency. With Lima team accounted for, the map marker for their position disappeared, leaving only Yankee team left to find. "Let's hope they're not like them." Colin said as he gave one more glance to the corpses of the JTF team. He had placed them all on their backs so Charlie team would have easy access to their tags. He would have done more but he had to go find the last team.

Jogging off toward the next waypoint, Colin could hear the distant gunfire from the battle raging from at base of operations. From the way things sounded it sounded like the fighting had just picked up again after a brief pause. Turning his attention back to his mission, he picked up the pace to close the distance between him and the waypoint. Reaching the waypoint after a few minutes, Colin came across what was left of a skirmish between Rioters and another faction he assumed JTF but wasn't sure.

"ISAC, can you reconstruct what happened here?"

"Scanning." Colin watched as ISAC attempt to interface with anything that could help it reconstruct the what had happened. "Negative. Lack of relevant data."

"Damn." Colin said as he looked around for any clues that could let him know where the JTF team went. From behind a shot up jersey barrier, he found few spent cartridges across where all the Rioters laid dead and could see the boot prints heading down the street. Figuring they were his best bet, he followed them until he reached the next corner. As he looked around for anything to give him any kind of sign, ISAC spoke up as it connected with the streets cameras.

"Alert: Additional information received. Updating waypoint." Colin blinked in surprise but quickly shook it off as he jogged to follow the waypoint marker. As much as he would have enjoyed playing detective, he was glad that ISAC was able to pick up on their trail. "Alert: Incoming transmission from Agent Faye Lau to all Division agents."

"Agents, we need our base up and running and we need to show the people of New York they're getting their city back." Faye began her small speech. Stopping and turning part of his attention to listen to his surrounding, he realized that the sounds of gunfire from the firefight at the Base of Operations had ceased. He had been so focused in his small investigation that he didn't realize it. Turing his full attention back to listen to Faye's speech about the base, he continued to jogged to where his waypoint marker led him. However, his attention was quickly drawn elsewhere when gunshots rang out once more.

"Alert: JTF radio frequency found. Patching you in."

"This is Corporal Chancy from patrol team Yankee. We are under fire and are in need of assistance. Looters have us pinned. Requesting reinforcements from any JTF squads in the area." The sound of a battle was clear in the background.

"Corporal, this Division Agent Courier. I read you. I'm two mikes out. Can you hold out until I get there?"

"We'll do our best, sir, but you might want to hurry." With that Colin pushed himself and started sprinting toward the JTF team. Rounding the corner, he was greeted with the sight of about seven Rioters firing at the store front of an electronic store and he could see the distinct green JTF helmets on the receiving end of the volley of bullets. Staying out of sight for the meantime, Colin quickly patted himself down for a grenade. To his luck, he still had the flashbang grenade he confiscated back in Brooklyn. Priming the grenade, Colin tossed the grenade. As the grenade landed, the Rioters were too late to take real notice of the flashbang to attempt to shield themselves from it or get away. With the grenade going off with a resounding bang, Colin quickly got out of his cover and started dropping Rioters as they tried to recover from the stun. The introduction of a new combatant threw the Rioters into confusion, giving the JTF team a chance to pushed back against the Rioters. The Rioters that weren't affected too badly by the flashbang, realized the situation they were in and quickly took off running. Those that stayed to fight did their best find any available cover to protect themselves from the incoming fire by the Division agent only to leave themselves open to fire from the JTF and within a minute, the skirmish was over. With the fighting over, the JTF team cautiously stepped outside.

"Clear." One of the JTF members called out after seeing the aftermath of the battle. The JTF lowered their weapons but quickly raised their weapons once again once Colin revealed himself.

"Stand down. I'm on your side." Colin said as he raised his arms and removed his finger from the trigger, pointing to his watch with his other hand. The JTF soldiers visibly relaxed and lowered their weapons with a sigh of relief. Lowering his arms, Colin approached them.

"Thanks for the assist, sir. We were been trying to raise Camp Hudson for awhile but the messages won't get through." the Corporal in charge said as the others kept watch.

"Glad I got here on time. How are you guys holding up?"

"Been better. Couple of scrapes and bruises but no one got hit so we're fine."

"Well we'll see that you boys get checked out when we get back." Colin said as he looked around the area. Looking around, Colin noticed that his custom waypoint marker was nearby and an idea popped into his head. "Before I send you and your team off, I'd like you guys to come with me to check something out. I might need the help." The Corporal looked at him with a skeptical look.

"Are you sure you'll need our help? You kinda took out most of those Rioters on you own."

"Well I'd appreciate the company nonetheless."

"No complaints here. You're in charge, sir. We'll follow you." the JTF soldier said with shrug before turning toward his men. "Alright boys, fall in. Looks we're going to be working with Agent Courier for a bit. We do as he say when he says it. Clear?"

"Yessir." the team responded.

"We're all yours, agent." Corporal Chancy said. Colin nodded in response and the group walked back down the street. Unsure when they were going to find another moment of quiet like this, Colin used this as an opportunity to contact the lieutenant back in Camp Hudson.

"Lieutenant, it's Courier. I found your missing patrols."

"Uh, c-copy that, agent. What's their status?" The lieutenant asked trying to compose himself.

"Patrol team Golf is KIA. Charlie team is retrieving their gear and tags and bringing them back. Lima team is en route back to Camp Hudson as we speak and I've assumed command of Yankee team to investigate a missing person report."

"U-understood, agent. Thanks for finding our guys and good luck finding that missing person. Camp Hudson out." With that, transmission ended.

"So who's this missing person we're looking for?"

"A young woman by the name of Heather Lau. She was last seen in the civilian quarters at Camp Hudson in the portion that was burned down but her body wasn't among the dead. I got intel that stated she might have left camp prior to the attack and returned to her apartment to retrieve something so we're heading over to her apartment to check if the intel is good or not."

"How far is her apartment?"

"Not far. It's on W 26th st. We're on W 28th."

"So what happens when we find her?"

"If she's alive, then we'll provide escort back to the Base of Operations in Pennsylvanian Plaza. Division agents just help JTF secure the base."

"And if she's not?" Corporal Chancy asked. Colin stayed silent for a little bit. He didn't want to think about that. He especially didn't want to think about how Faye would react to the news.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there." That was all Colin said on the matter. The others just nodded understandingly. The rest of the walk was spent in silence when finally, after a couple of minutes they arrived at front entrance of the apartment building.

"Alert: Active ECHO beacon nearby. Ready for playback." ISAC informed him. Colin just silently activated the ECHO log and listened as a holographic image of Heather opening the door appeared. Less than a minute later, the audio ended as well.

"It looks like the she made it inside." Colin said as he reached for the handle and tried turning the knob only to find it locked. "And of course the door is locked." Colin mumbled to himself. "Really wish I brought some lockpicks right about now."

"Sir, we got an alleyway here. There's a problem though." A JTF soldier jogged up to him and said quietly. "We got two Rioters waiting at the bottom of the ladder to the fire escape." Colin's eyes went wide and he ran past the soldier to the alleyway, the JTF soldier following closely behind. Without a second thought, Colin drew his sidearm and unload several on the bullets into each of them in the middle of their conversation. Running passed the groaning bodies of the Rioters and ignoring the ECHO log that appeared, Colin jumped onto the ladder and started the climbing. Half way up the ladder, Colin looked down at the JTF team following him.

"You three, stay here and stand guard. Everyone else, you're with me." With that, Colin continued his climb. The JTF just looked at each other in a bit of confusion until Corporal Chancy spoke up as he started climbing.

"You heard the man. Get to it, people." He said before he followed Colin. At the top of the ladder, ISAC picked up on a radio signal and patch him to listen. Hearing Heather talking to Faye, he let out a sigh of relief to know she was alive. Quickly moving up the stairs and into the building through a broken window, Colin heard a crash and a loud thud and quicken the pace. Halfway up the stairs, his radio came to life once more and he heard Heather telling Faye that she had hit a man with her guitar and broke it. Letting out a heavy sigh of relief, he looked back at the JTF soldiers that had followed him up and nodded to them. Listening in to the conversation between Faye and Heather, he heard Faye tell her that she'll send a JTF squad to come pick her up. Reaching the top of the stairs, Colin walked over to the open door way and as he walked in, he quickly dropped to the floor to dodge what remained of an already broken guitar from impacting his skull. The rest of the JTF team rushed over to help while Colin did his best to calm down the young woman standing in front of him.

"Woah, woah, woah, Heather, calm down! We're with the JTF. We're here to bring you back to your sister." Colin quickly said. Heather seemed to hesitate as she grew suspicious of the people at her door.

"Why should I believe you? There's no way the team my sister said she'll send could have gotten here that quickly." Heather asked as she looked over the man on the floor and the men in the JTF uniforms, trying to hold the remains of her guitar in threatening manner. As she examine the one on the floor, she noticed that he looked familiar and a second later, it clicked in her head. "Colin?" She lowered the improvised weapon. Colin stood up and dusted himself off while he replied.

"And here I thought you had forgotten about me." Colin said. "So do you trust us to get you to Faye or do wanna take another swing at me with what's left of your guitar?" Looking between Colin and the broken instrument in her hand, she looked back at Colin.

"Can I do both? I still remember what you did last time I saw you."

"That was three years ago and it wasn't even my fault." Colin said as started walking out of the room with Heather following close behind, dropping the broken piece of wood in her hand. The JTF soldier just looked at each other before shrugging and following them out, listening to them bicker as they walked. As the group made it outside and joined up with the rest of Yankee team, Colin called out orders. "Alright, VIP secure. Let's get to the Base of Operations and be done with today." Colin could see that the sun was already going down. The rest of the JTF members nodded in agreement and formed up around Heather. After a few minutes of walking at a brisk pace in silence, Colin stopped the group just before an intersection. "Hold up, it's too quiet. Stay here while I go check it out. If I'm not back in five minutes, fall back and bring her to Camp Hudson." Colin ordered the rest of them before heading off on his own. The group made their behind cover and sat in silence for a few minutes until one of the JTF soldiers broke the silence and the building tension by try to start a conversation with Heather.

"So, uh, Heather, was it?" the JTF soldier asked almost nervously. Heather turned to look at the man with a bit of surprise.

"Yeah, that me." she responded almost nervously unsure where the conversation was going.

"I was wondering, how do you know agent Courier?"

"Courier? You mean Colin?" Heather asked, to which the JTF soldier nodded. "I met him through my sister. They were...close." Heather said, trying to find the right word to describe Faye and Colin's relationship. She didn't know much about what went on between the two. To her frustration, they very tight lipped about their situation. "I didn't get along with him most of the time. Mainly because he would disappear for long periods of time until he would show up randomly in the city one day with he and Faye acting like nothing happened. Then again, I never heard from him while he gone but he did keep in touch with my sister." Heather said as she thought back to the time before the everything went to hell. "Although I am curious to know where he's been. One day, he just vanished and my sister didn't say anything about it. This is the first time I've seen him in three years. I thought he was dead." The conversation ended there as the JTF soldiers just silently nodded and returned to keeping watch. A few minutes later, Colin came back looking no worse for wear while removing the suppressor on his sidearm.

"Alright, we're all clear. Let's keep moving." Colin said. The group nodded and got up, following the Division agent without question. With no other complications, the group was about to make it to the JTF's Base of Operation in good time. Looking around outside of the base, there were a good many JTF members outside the base, either standing guard or still cleaning up the aftermath of the battle. As they got closer, a team of JTF soldiers approached them.

"Hold. Identify yourselves." The team leader called out. Colin stepped forward to talk to the team leader.

"Division Agent Courier. This Yankee team from Camp Hudson. I'm here to drop off an VIP and the regroup with my team." Colin pointed at his watch.

"Copy that. Wait here while we call it in." Colin nodded and returned to the rest of the group he arrived with. A minute later, the team leader got Colin's attention and pointed to his ear with a confused look on his face. Colin nodded and tapped his ear piece.

"Alert: Incoming transmission." ISAC notified him as he did so.

"Courier here." Colin said, stepping away from the group.

"Courier, glad to hear you made it back. Good job with the missing patrols. I got word from the Camp Hudson that you found them all." Ryan congratulated him.

"Thanks but it wasn't all good. Golf team is KIA."

"Dammit. JTF has lost too many men as is." Ryan said. "So what's this about you being outside with a VIP and one of the patrol team."

"Well, I came across a missing person report and after I found Yankee team, I followed up on it since it was nearby and the person turned out to still be alive so I had Yankee assist me in escorting her back to base."

"And who might this VIP be?"

"Heather Lau, agent Faye Lau's sister." Colin replied. Over the radio heard a long sigh.

"What am I going to do with you, Colin?" Ryan asked.

"Let me in for one. The sun is going down and we've got plenty to do if I heard Agent Lau correctly."

"Yeah, we do. Come on in, I already notified them to let you and the other through. You're lucky we need you for the next set of objectives, Colin, otherwise I would have locked you out." Ryan said with another sigh while Colin just laughed. "Welcome home, agent. It's good to have you back." With that, Ryan cut the communication. Looking back at the others, Colin motioned for them to follow and lead them to the decontamination tent. Walking through, each of them went through the decontamination process with Colin having ISAC double checking each of them. As Yankee team started making their way into the building, Colin stopped Heather.

"Heather, wait." Colin said. "Before you go in there, I need to tell you something. It's about Faye."

"What about Faye?" Heather asked suspiciously. With a heavy sigh, Colin answered.

"On our way here, Faye was injured when our ride into the city was destroyed."

"What? Is she okay? How bad was it?" Heather asked starting to panic and worry about her sister.

"She's pretty banged up pretty bad but she'll be okay. Your sister's a tough woman. It'll take a lot more than an exploding VTOL to keep her down. That be said, I'm telling you this now so you don't freak out when you see her. Okay?" Heather nodded in response. "Good. Now wait here for a minute. I'm going to go get yelled at by your sister." That seem to have lightened the mood a bit as Heather let out small laugh. Walking inside, Colin looked around the interior of the building and saw how dirty it was. He frowned at the current state of the building, remembering how the building looked before the world went to hell. As he continued to look around, he soon made eye contact with Faye and smiled. However, the smile was quickly wiped off of his face when she gave him an annoyed look.

"I'm assuming you're mad at me?" He asked as he walked over.

"You did leave me with a bunch of strangers without a word." Faye said annoyed.

"In my defense, I did come over to check up on you before I left. You were having a good time with the rest of of them so I didn't want to interrupt."

"You could have at least stayed in contact during your mission."

"I know but then this won't have been a surprise." Colin said as he walked back over to the door he entered through. "You can come in now." Faye look at him suspiciously until she saw Heather walk in. It took all of Faye's willpower to not rush over to her sister but luckily, Heather was the one to quickly ran up to her and the two sisters embraced one another. Colin smiled at the reunion as Heather was fussing over Faye and was about to walk off to get his next assignment when Faye stopped him.

"And where do you think you're going?" Colin turned to face Faye. With a smirk, Faye did her best to walk over to Colin without the assistance, knowing Colin wouldn't let her. Like she predicted, Colin quickly closed the gap between them and took hold of her, not wanting her to push her injuries. Faye just smile at him and wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into a tight hug. "Thank you for finding Heather." She whispered to him. Colin could only smile and hug her back.

"No problem. I know how much she means to you." Colin said quietly. Helping Faye back to her desk, Colin left Faye with her sister so the two of them could catch up while took a turn into the security wing. At the table on his left, he found Ryan looking over a map of the island of Manhattan. Noticing Colin approaching, he looked up and greet the agent.

"Welcome back. Did everything you had to?" Ryan asked, even if he didn't have to since he heard almost everything.

"Yeah. I got Heather back to her sister and the two are catching up right now." Colin said as he leaned on the table and quickly looked over the map. "What's our next move?"

"Our next move is the securing each of the VIPs. We're splitting up in to three three-manned teams."

"You are just on a roll on breaking that 'team of four' rule you made earlier." Colin said.

"You're never gonna let that go, aren't you?" Ryan said, sending the fellow soldier a half-heartened glare.

"Probably not." Colin said with a shrug.

"In my defense, I didn't think things were this bad that we would have to handle three separate objectives at the same time." Ryan said. "Anyway, the only people not assigned to a team are the two of the us and Guardian. We got a slot open for each team so take your pick since I know the we can handle any of the missions with our skill set." Ryan said. In front of Colin's eyes, three boxes appeared because of his contact lenses, each holding the mission description for each mission. Looking at the three options, Colin made up his mind with a sigh.

"I better handle the tech mission. I'm better geared toward this stuff than most so I'll be more help in the off chance our guys down there are KIA."

"Understandable." Ryan said, remembering Colin's role as a combat engineer back in the GST. "You're gonna be partnered up with Scorch and Phantom for this one. You'll be heading to a place the JTF had dubbed the 'Subway Morgue.'"

"Great, two of my favorite things. The MTA and morgues." Colin said sarcastically. "Let's just hope Phantom doesn't try to burn another hole into me with her glare."

"I'm sure you'll manage. I guess I'll secure Benitez." Ryan said as he send a mission briefing to Guardian. "I better relay the information to Agent Lau so she can coordinate with each team. She'll be acting as our handler. In the meantime, don't get comfortable. We're moving out as soon as I'm done helping her set up." Ryan said.

"You're killing me here, man." Colin said with a groan.

"Oh shut up. You know you can handle this without a problem." Ryan said, smirking at his comrade's antics. "If anything, it couldn't be worse than one time in Siberia, at least from what I heard."

"Doesn't mean I don't like a break."

"You're dismissed, smartass." Ryan said, shaking his head with an amused grin.

"Sir, yes, sir." Colin said with salute before walking deeper into the Security Wing with a laugh.

"Crazy fool." Ryan muttered to himself.

"I heard that!" Colin yelled from next room.

"Good!" Ryan called back, hearing a few laughs from the other side of the wall where Faye was located.

In the next room over, Colin was exploring the all the rooms and getting a feeling for the layout of the base he would be calling home for the next long while, taking note of important sections and the places that could be fixed up or needed to be staffed. Leaving the security wing, he was just about to head to the medical wing when he noticed the rest of the agents all gather on the on the bench in the hallway between the security wing and the medical wing.

"Hey, Courier, welcome back." Henry called out as he spotted the agent. Walking over, Colin greeted them each of them, also remembering to thank the three members of Alpha-9 for keeping an eye on Faye while he was gone. "So where have you been?"

"Running around Chelsea for the most part." Colin said as stood at the head of the table. "How did securing the base operations go? I heard the firefight all the way from 26th st."

"Better than expected, worse than we hope."

"Well, for our first day, I think we did pretty good." Alex said, trying to look on the positive side of it. Colin couldn't help but agree with him.

"You guys did good. It's been was a rough day but unfortunately, we're not done yet." Colin said as he crossed his arms. "By the way, I'm with you two." He pointed to Sabina and Mateo.

"Alright, as long as I'm not leading the team, I've got no problems." Mateo said with shrug. Sabina said nothing, the only indication he got that she acknowledged his statement was a nod.

"We're moving out already?" Henry asked. "We just starting to enjoy our break."

"Hey, at least you got one. I just got back only to find out we're not done for the night." Henry shrugging, seeing his point. Any conversation any of them were having ended when Ryan called from down the hall.

"Gear up, people. We're Oscar Mike."

"That's our cue." Colin said. "You heard the man, stock up and meet up with your teams. And remember to button up, it's getting dark out and temperature is dropping." Everyone just nodded and went to collect their gear. Already having his gear, Colin went over to where Ryan and Faye were.

"I heard what you said. You should listen to your own advice. I know you've never really been big on jackets." Faye said as she looked up at him from her seat.

"I'll be fine. Beside, we're heading into the underground and if living in the city my entire life as taught me anything, it's that no matter how cold it is outside, it's always way too hot in the subway stations." Faye couldn't help but chuckle, remembering all the times she had taken the train with Colin.

"Do you even own a jacket? I don't think I've ever since you in anything heavier than a hoodie." Ryan said. Even now, Colin still a lacked jacket, opting for a black long sleeve shirt with a red short sleeve shirt on top of it.

"I see nothing wrong with what I'm wearing." Colin said. In truth, he was wearing three shirts, a white undershirt laid hidden underneath the black long sleeve. A jacket would have been too much in his opinion. Then again, he didn't feel the cold as much as other people did. Seeing Sabina and Mateo walking over with their gear equipped, he sighed, knowing his short break was over. "Looks like break time is over. See you when we get back." Colin said.

"Stay safe out there." Faye said as he turned to leave.

"Always am."

"Don't lie to me, Colin." Colin just laugh as he, Mateo, and Sabina walked out. The next ones to arrive were Katrina and Erick. Ryan nodded to them before saying farewell to Faye. Walking out with them, the last three to head out were the three with the closest objective.

"We're heading out." Henry said to Faye with a two finger salute. Alex and Ada nodded to the injured agent and the three of them headed out, leaving Faye on her own, cursing at her injuries that caused her inability to be out there to help them and the city she grew up in.

 **A/N**

 **And that's a wrap. Thank you so much for the reading this chapter. It's been awhile since I've updated this story. I'm not sure how many people still read this but to those that do, I hope you enjoyed it. I have no intention of abandoning this story but I apologize for the long wait time.**

 **But with that aside, what did you guys think? Like it? Hate it? Somewhere in between? Let me know with a comment/review or shoot me a PM if that's more your style.**

 **Thanks again for reading and as always, have a great day.**


	6. Chapter 6: Madison Field Hospital

**A/N**

 **Hello everybody. Thank you so much for reviewing and reading. It really does brighten my day to the point where I'll be grinning like an idiot for a few hours after seeing that people still enjoy this story. It really does mean the world to me and I can't thank everyone enough.**

 **One thing I want to make clear before starting this chapter is that the gameplay I'm using as reference for this mission is from the Beta so if the number and types of enemies in this chapter seem off, that's why but it shouldn't be too much of a difference. Now, the disclaimer.**

 **Disclaimer: TC's The Division belongs to Ubisoft and it's respective developers. I only own some of the characters and the some of the plot. Any names that are similar or the same completely coincidental.**

 **Now onto the story.**

 _Pennsylvania_ _Plaza, Manhattan, New York_

After leaving the Base of Operations, Henry, Alex, and Ada caught a glimpse of the Colin and his team jogging around the corner passed Madison Square Garden as they headed off toward their objective after telling something to the JTF officers. In the opposite direction, they could see Ryan and his team walking away from the base and heading the street. Turning back toward the direction Colin and his team went, it was a short jog until they arrived at the entrance of the Madison Square Garden, seeing two JTF soldier setting up a breaching charge as radios came to life.

"We've got a lot of hostiles inside, agents. They're holding Dr. Kandel and her staff. We need those personnel back at the base so we can get the medical wing functional." Faye said as they approached the doors. The JTF soldiers noticed them just as they finished and pulled them to the side.

"You must be the agents that other group just told us about." One of the JTF soldiers said. "Stack up. We'll get the door for you." The three agents nodded and took positions on both sides of the door behind the JTF soldier.

"Clear!" The other one yelled as the two looked turned away from the charge. A few seconds later, the breaching charge exploded, destroying the doors and the metal gate behind it. "We're in! Go! We go your back!" The JTF and the Division agents moved in, quickly securing the entrance.

"We'll hold here to cover your back. Then we'll escort the medical personnel when you've retrieved them." One of the JTF soldiers said as the two found cover and made sure no one was trying to come up behind the agents. Henry nodded and pushed up with Ada and Alex following in a tight formation. Entering the lobby, they found it empty.

"Empty?" Ada asked cautiously.

"Maybe they didn't hear us?" Alex suggested. Just as he said that, small arms fire erupted from the escalators, causing the three agents to dive for cover.

"How many?" Henry asked as a bullet ping off the hospital bed he was hiding behind. Leaning out, he fired a burst causing the Rioters shooting to duck.

"I'm counting three, all armed with pistols from the sound of it." Ada called back before firing her UMP-45 at the attacking Rioters.

"Heads up, they're flanking." Alex said as he popped out his cover and put a burst into the chest one of the flanking Rioters. "One down." Standing up, Henry was able to take down the Rioter that was trying to pin down Alex with a well placed burst.

"That's two." Henry called out just as Ada put a round in the heart of the last man. "We're all clea-" Just before he could finished his sentence, a second group came rushing down the stairs wildly firing SMGs and handguns. "Oh you've gotta be kidding me." Henry swore ducked back behind cover. "'Maybe they didn't hear us?' You just had to say something!" Henry shouted as he blind fired the rest of his magazine. "Swapping mags!"

"Not my fault!" Alex called back as he primed a grenade and tossed it. "And you said we were all clear!"

"Boys, we can point fingers later but can we deal with these guys first?" Ada shouted at both of them as the grenade went off, killing the Rioter who was hiding behind a desk.

"We can do both." Alex replied as Henry dropped another that was trying to flank. Ada just huffed in frustration as Alex and Henry pumped the took down the last two.

"Spook, Recker, cover me. I'm pushing." Henry called out as he made his way around the hospital bed. As soon as he got close to the escalators, a single Rioter fired down at him from the top of with a handgun. "Son of a- We got one more, top of the escalators."

"Get him to pop out his cover for a second." Ada said.

"Got it. Moving...now!" Henry quickly dashed to the other side of the escalators. As soon as the Rioter popped out of his cover to fire upon the agent, he received a bullet to his head, courtesy of Ada's M700.

"He's down." Ada said as she pulled the bolt back and load another round into the internal magazine to replace the one she just spent before sliding the bolt forward to chamber another round. Stepping out of their cover, the three agents cautiously got into a loose formation as they headed up the escalators.

"If you patch me into the security system, I might be able to find Kandel's location." Faye's voice came over the radio.

"Copy that." Henry said, picking up the pace a little bit. Heading up the small set of stairs and past some UV light filters, the group of Division agents soon found themselves in the security room. "Who wants to patch Agent Lau in?"

"I got it." Ada said as she moved leaned her rifle against the table desk and began typing.

"How long do you need?" Henry asked as he and Alex shouldered their weapons in case anymore contacts came by, doing their best not to look at the dead JTF officers in the room.

"Only need a minute or two." Ada said as her hand flew across the keyboard. True to her word, two minutes later, she was done.

"Patched in... Let's see what I can find." Faye said as she began her search. A few moments later, the screens on the wall, at least the non busted ones, changed to show a woman standing over a hospital bed with a Rioter standing next to her with a AK-47 in his arms, looking around nervously. "Can you see the CCTV feed. Looks like Kandel and her staff are being forced to treat their wounded. That's the only reason they're still alive." The feed showed the man with the AK looked over Kandel's shoulder before throwing his weapon to the side and push Kandel away and trying to do CPR on the man in the hospital bed. The agents didn't watch for too much longer as they quickly went up the stairs and out the door to proceed into the hallway that lead to the show floor.

"It looks like they've got people upstairs, in a restaurant." They heard Faye as she continued to monitor the CCTV feeds. "There's a lot of these guys, but if you use cover, you should be able to pick them off without making yourself a target." She said as the three walked onto the basketball court turned medical room floor. Quickly taking cover by the entrance, the three observed situation around them.

"Alright, I'm seeing about three enemies on the far side of the court. Anyone else got eyes on any more?" Henry said.

"Nope."

"Negative." Ada replied. "What's the plan?" Alex looked to at Henry as well.

"What? Why are you both looking at me?"

"You're the team leader here. You call the shots." Ada said.

"You've gotta be kidding me." Henry groaned but the two made no attempt to take charge. "Fuck it, fine. Recker, head to the far side of the court. I'll focus this side. Spook, you're in the middle but hang back and pick them off with that rifle of yours while Alex and I push up the flanks. Copy?"

"Copy." The both said as they headed off to their spots.

"In position." Ada reported.

"Ready." Alex checked in.

"Got it. Spook, if you'll be so kind." Henry said. A second later, a shot from Ada's rifle echoed through the building, the bullet finding it's mark in one of the Rioter's head. The other Rioter's quickly wiped around at the sound of the shot in surprise. Ada quickly found her second target and fired, killing the Rioter as well. As the second Rioter fell over dead and the third one dove for cover, their ear pieces came to life with with a chirp.

"Additional hostiles detected." ISAC informed them. Looking around, Alex spotted the movement from the bleachers above.

"Enemies above." He called out and started firing off bursts of rounds at them. Following the bullets, Henry soon saw the Rioters as they tried to make a break for the scaffolding at the other side of the court and quickly added in his own fire. The combined fire of Alex and Henry was enough to drop two of the three Rioters as they jumped down to the scaffolding. The last one was able to jump down to the ground while the two agents were reloading and join the singular Rioter still left alive.

"Additional hostiles detected." ISAC once again informed them.

"You've gotta be kidding." Henry said as he slammed home a fresh magazine as he moved to new cover to avoid a smoke grenade. Popping out of his cover, he saw the hostiles ISAC was referring to and quickly put some suppressing fire on them while Alex and Ada focused on dealing with the two on the ground.

"Pushing forward!" Alex called out as moved forward to get better shot on the two pinned Rioters. The Rioters above saw this and tried to fire down on the out of cover agent but were quickly forced back to abandon that idea and quickly ran for the scaffolding when one of Henry's rounds got lucky and hit a Rioter in the throat. Once Alex now in a new position, he quickly opened up on the two Rioters, hitting one in the knee and causing the other to panic and running out of his cover and right into Ada's crosshairs, who put a bullet through the man's chest.

"Warning: Addition hostiles detected." ISAC announce.

"Oh come on! How many of these guys are there?" Alex said as he reloaded and fell back as the two that Henry were firing quickly jumped down and began opening fire on his position.

"I don't know about you but I think they heard us this time." Ada said as she tried lining up another shot but was driven back behind cover by the new enemies wildly firing their SMGs. Henry laughed as he dropped the empty mag from his weapon and inserted a new one while Alex just groaned at the joke.

"Anyone got eyes on how many hostiles?" Henry called out, picking up a grenade and tossed it back.

"Sending out a pulse." Ada called out as she send out a pulse scan, revealing four Rioters remaining.

"Really?! You've had pulse the entire time and now you decide to use it?!" Alex yelled from behind his cover as he blind fired his magazine.

"We didn't need it before!" Ada shouted back as she loaded more rounds into her rifle.

"Ladies, focus, we still got hostiles." Henry said as he leaned out his cover and opened up with his rifle before taking cover again as bullets pinged off the side of the desk he was hiding behind. "I'm pinned down. Recker, do you still have your turret?"

"No, it was destroyed when we were securing the Base of Operations and they didn't have any replacements."

"Shit. Alright, I only got two left after this. Deploying Seeker." Henry said as he dropped the automated orb on the ground. The automation came to life with a beep and quickly shot off to attack it's target, rolling under and around desks and hospital beds. Just as Ada's pulse was starting to wear off, the Seeker Mine reached it's target and exploded, killing two of the four Rioters and wounding a third. "That got 'em. Let's wrap it up people."

"Roger." Ada said as she sighted in once more. To their surprise, the remaining Rioter quickly threw his pistol to the side and got up with his hands up while the three agents all pointed their weapons at him.

"Oh god, please don't shoot. We surrender." The man cried out. The three agents quickly glanced at each other and kept their weapons trained on the man.

"Get the other guy up then both of you keep your hands where I can see them." Henry called out them. The Rioter compiled despite the pained protests of the injured one not wanting to get up. Leaning the injured Rioter on one of the beds, they both raised their arms in surrender while Henry and Alex pushed up to them. As Henry searched them, Alex and Ada kept their aim on them. After removing any other weapons they had on them, Henry zipped tied the two a hospital bed and began treating the injured ones wounds.

"Do we have time for that?" Ada asked as she jogged over and saw what Henry was doing.

"We'll make time." He said as he quickly treating the wounds with the supplies nearby. "Are you two hurt?"

"No, we're fine. Thankfully, they weren't very good shots." Ada said looking over bloody corpses of the Rioters that were killed by the Seeker Mine. As Henry started cleaning last wound, their radios came to life once more.

"Kandel and her staff are still upstairs, stashed in the kitchen at Koby's." Faye said. Quickly bandaging the wound to make sure the person didn't bleed out, Henry stood up and headed to the exit at the side of the court. Finding an elevator sitting there waiting for them, they quickly piled in and took it up to the floor they needed. "To get to Koby's, you'll have to pass by some contaminated areas."

"Contaminated areas? What were they for?" Ada asked.

"There use to be plenty of sick people getting treated there, before they got shot. So, be careful." With that, the radio call ended.

"That doesn't sound good." The group pushed past the contaminated area soon found themselves at the door. Peeking through the windows on the door, they quickly saw a handful of Rioters waiting for them across the platform the gap by the kitchen. "And that doesn't look good."

"Spook, send out a pulse." Henry said. Ada did so and it revealed three Rioters standing guard by the medical staff. As they all walked around, the three agents quickly opened the door and slipped out to slide behind cover. "Pick your targets."

"Got mine."

"Target sighted in."

"On my mark. 3...2...1...mark!" On that command, the three of the fired, one bullet have some explosive results as it struck a propane tank. With the three Rioters down, the three agents heard a door open saw two more Rioters run out and opened fire. As the Rioter engaged the Division Agents, the medical staff ran out of the kitchen and over to the far wall to get out of the crossfire that had formed between the two factions. The firefight quickly ended, however, as the agents were quickly able to eliminate the two newcomers. Running over to the doors on the far side of the room, Henry quickly opened it as the Ada and Alex watched the other side of the room to make sure no more Rioters were coming. Once they were through, they were greet with the sight of Kandel and the medical staff hiding behind some of the chairs. "Doctor Kandel, I presume?"

"Yes, that's me." She said looking up at the agents.

"We're with the Strategic Homeland Division. We're here to get you get you out. There's a JTF team in the lobby waiting to bring you back to the Base of Operations. Once we're clear, head down and meet up with them." Kandel nodded and turned to the rest of her staff.

"Keep your heads down and keep it quiet!"

"Warning: Hostiles detected." ISAC notified the agents.

"We got incoming!" Alex called out as he took cover behind some seats while Ada took cover behind the box on the table. Rushing to cover, Henry watched as Ada sent out another pulse, showing four Rioters as they busted through a doorway on the other side of the restaurant. However, the agents were prepared and quickly put heat on them as the group ran around the bend. killing two before they could even knew what hit them. The last two were lucky enough to scramble to cover. Two more Rioters quickly ended the fray from the side door and tried to support the their allies. As the Rioters started firing back, the two with baseball bats tried to flank through the kitchen to get the drop on the agents but were noticed by the Ada as she was reloaded her submachine gun.

"We got two flanking through the kitchen." She said as she chambered a round.

"I got them." Henry turned as focused his aim at the kitchen door next to him. As soon as the Rioters ran out of the doorway, he opened up on them, their jackets and clothing offering no protection against the 5.56 rounds shoot by his rifle. "They're down. I'm flanking through the kitchen. Cover me."

"Copy." The other two turned their attention to the Rioters and fired at them whenever they tried to peek their heads out of cover. Making his way through the kitchen, Henry was able to line up a shot one of the Rioters and fired, killing the Rioter almost instantly. The remaining Rioters got startled by the death of his last surviving ally and jumped back with a scream, leaving him exposed to the combine fire of the other two agents. Sending a pulse out, they let out a breath of relief as it came up clear.

"We're all clear." Henry said as they jogged back to the medical staff. "Get downstairs and meet up with the JTF team." Henry said. "Oh, and Doctor Kandel, there are two Rioters downstairs on the basketball court zipped tied to a hospital bed. One of them is injured." Henry said.

"We'll grab them on our way out." Kandel said, knowing where the conversation was going. As the medical staff started heading out, their radios came to life once more.

"The escort party's taking heavy fire from the roof. They can't move until you get up there and take down that gunner." Faye told them. The radio then swapped over to the JTF radio as it crackled to life.

"We're pinned down. There's no way we'll make it across alive unless someone can get up there and take out the big guns." One of the JTF soldiers from earlier told them. Through the radio, they could hear the sounds of weapons fire in the background.

"All yours, agents." Faye simply said. The three nodded at each and ran toward the other side the room, following the navigational assist ISAC provide on their HUDs. Climbing up the ladder, they soon found themselves on the catwalks above the scoreboard. The path split two ways, hopefully reaching the same end point. With Alex going right and Ada and Henry going left, they made their around the catwalk, making sure no other surprises were waiting for them. Looking down, Ada and Henry saw Kandel and her staff assisting the two Rioters to their feet as they were headed out. Jogging to catch up with Alex, they regrouped at the ladder and one by one they went up the ladder. Once they were all up, the team of agent headed outside. "Alpha escort, we have agents on the roof. Has Kandel made it your position?"

"Affirmative. She and her staff just arrived. As soon as the hostiles on the roof are gone, we'll get her across safely." The JTF soldier said. As the group pushed forward, they saw an NYPD helicopter go by and hover over the roof. Rushing up the stairs and they took cover behind various objects. Once Ada pulse reached it's limit, it showed four Rioters, not including the man firing the LMG from the fair end of the roof as he was out of range.

"Let's make this quick." Alex said as he watched the helicopter start trailing smoke as it pulled away.

"Pick your targets." Henry ordered. Each of the agents quickly found their targets and called out they were ready. "Drop 'em." The three fired and three Rioters fell over dead. The last Rioter jumped in surprise and ran for cover but wasn't quick enough as the several bullets ripped through his backpack and detonated the grenades inside. The man with the LMG looked over and yelled something before heading jogging over the roof he was on to get to bed cover as the agents began firing at him, a few rounds managing to nick him or hit his body armor.

"We got more incoming." Alex yelled as she saw a door open. Ada immediately shifted her aim and saw three Bruisers rushing out the door and dropped the one leading the group. The Bruiser right behind him tripped over the body of the front while the last one jumped over the two fallen Bruisers, only to have his chest riddled with bullets. One last Bruiser exited at doorway and caught sight of what happened.

"Hutch, we need help down here!" The Bruiser yelled at the man above. The man got out his cover and began unloading the rest of his RPK magazines at the three agents, causing them to duck for cover. With the agents preoccupied, the Bruiser ran over and helped the downed one get up and into cover.

"Spread out!" Henry yelled as he bullets pinged off his cover. The other agents acknowledged the order and moved as Henry leaned out of his cover to lay down suppressive fire on Hutch. With Hutch effectively suppressed, one of the Bruiser tried to peek out to see where the agents were only to have a bullet go right through it. The last Bruiser cried out for his lost friend before something pinged off the railing by him and landed near by. Looking over, he let out one last curse before the grenade went off, killing him. With the last Bruiser dead, the agents thought they had finally caught a break until another door burst opened.

"Warning: Addition hostiles incoming." ISAC informed them as four Rioters ran out, firing their pistols and SMGs off in the agent's general direction, driving them to cover.

"You think, ISAC!" Henry yelled as he reloaded while taking cover. In that moment, Hutch took the opportunity to jump down from the roof to join the Rioters below. "Anyone got an angle?" Henry asked as Hutch opened up with his light machine gun once again.

"Yeah but I need you to cover me!" Ada yelled back.

"Got it! Recker, on my command. 3...2...1...Suppressing fire!" He shouted as he and Alex both stood up with their weapons switched to full auto, spraying bullets at the Rioters and claiming the life of one of them. Coming out of her cover, Ada sent out another pulse and lined her crosshairs up with the spot she knew where a Rioter would stick their head out and waited. When Alex and Henry went to reload, the Rioter tried to peek out to see if they were done, only to receive a bullet to the head, further dissuading the others from coming out.

"Last one. Grenade out!" Alex called as he toss the explosive. It land near two of the Rioters, causing them to run out of their cover and into line of fire, where they were quickly killed. Hutch let out a curse as he watched the last of his support get gunned down. Reloading his RPK, he braced himself against his cover and opened fire, nicking the sniper in his desperate spray of bullets, talking a bit of pleasure when he heard her cry out in pain.

"Ada, you okay?" Henry called out.

"Yeah, just a graze." She called back, clutching the wound.

"Getting really tired of this guy." Henry said as got a Seeker Mine out. "Seeker going out!" He said as he dropped the autonomous orb on the ground. With the Seeker on it's way, Henry fire a couple of quick burst at Hutch to distract him, hitting him in the shoulder and arm. That proved to be enough as the Seeker Mine reached him exploded, seriously injuring him and sent him out of his cover. As Hutch struggled to his feet, the three agents slowly approached the man with their weapons raised. Seeing the agents, he made a grab for his light machine gun only to find it had gotten to far away from him to reach. His last desperate gamble was trying to draw his pistol from his holster.

"Don't do it." Henry warned him. Hutch, however, didn't take the warning and tired firing the pistol but shot too high, missing the agents completely, and soon was riddled with bullet from the three agents. With smoke exiting the barrel, the agents kept an eye on Hutch to make sure he was actually dead. A nudging his leg with his foot and a subsequent pulse from Ada, the agents were able to let out a sigh of relief as they were finally clear. "All clear."

"Got the medics safely across. Kendal and all staff accounted for. No causalities." The JTF officer said cheerfully. A mission as successful as this would go a long way to boost the morale of the JTF and more importantly, bring the return something most people had lost; hope.

"We're off to a good start, agents, Wish I could have had your back out there, but I think we still make a hell of a team anyway. When you get back to the base, we'll talk to Kendal, and we'll see what she can do for us." Faye said over the radio. With that, Henry quickly patched up Ada's arm and the three agents happily headed for the exit, eager to get back to base and relax.

 **A/N**

 **And that's a wrap. Thank you so much for being here. We finally have the first actual mission done and over with, leaving us with two more to go. Now here's what I want to know, what mission do you want to see next, Subway Morgue or Lincoln Tunnel Checkpoint? I want to hear from you.**

 **Now for those that picked up on it earlier, I know I left out one bit of dialogue, that being Faye's line about the state of the event center and how she use to see games there with her father. While the line was part of this mission, I felt that it was bit too personal for Faye to say to people she doesn't really know that well. That being said, the line will still be said but it'll be during the Subway Morgue mission while she's talking on a private channel with Colin so yeah. Look forward to that I guess.**

 **Anyways, thanks again and as always, have a great day.**


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